The past week of daily events that has been driving more traffic and nightly ceramahs is not sitting well with some of the farmers and residents in Sungai Limau where political big-wigs have parked their large campaign caravans ahead of a by-election on Monday.
Farmer Saad Din, 56, is far from pleased over the increased traffic flow and various events in the small and quiet village consisting mostly of paddy fields and several small fishing villages.
“It is quite chaotic here these past days with so many people coming here and all the ceramahs, I just want things to be back to the normal peaceful atmosphere,” he lamented.
However, he is glad that there were no major tiffs or fights between supporters and workers from both political parties and that everything was done peacefully.
“Regardless of which party, what we farmers really want from our state assemblyman is to bring slight development, nothing major after all we are just a small village, and to protect our livelihood,” he said of the ongoing battle between BN’s Dr Ahmad Sohaimi Lazim and PAS’ Mohd Azam Abd Samat for the Sungai Limau state seat.
A general view of Sungai Limau town decorated with Barisan Nasional and PAS flags during the run up to the Sungai Limau by-election, October 31, 2013.A general view of Sungai Limau town decorated with Barisan Nasional and PAS flags during the run up to the Sungai Limau by-election, October 31, 2013.“We are simple folks, we don’t ask for much. Like us farmers, we want a higher subsidy for paddy so that we can have a higher profit margin,” he added.
He said farmers are also affected by inflation where the prices of everything rise and yet for the farmers, they don’t get to raise their prices so in the end they are in the losing end.
Fisherman Abdullah Shafie, 55, shared his views saying that it doesn’t matter which candidate win as long as they bring some sort of improvement such as upgrading their jetty at Kuala Sungai Limau.
“We want better infrastructure and we want the state assemblyman to take care of our welfare and needs,” he said.
Another fisherman Dan Cha, 54, said the fishing jetty is in a bad condition so the new state assemblyman, whoever wins the seat, should offer some assistance and help the fishermen to rebuild the jetty.
The late Tan Sri Azizan Abdul Razak of PAS had won Sungai Limau back in 1995 with a majority of slightly over 500 votes but succeeded in broadening his vote margin in the state constituency over the years in subsequent elections until vacating the seat through death on September 26.
More than 27,000 voters, consisting mostly of farmers and fishermen, will be casting their votes on November 4.- .themalaymailonline.com
