Today is the Nomination Day for the 12th General Election with polling to be conducted on Saturday 8 March. In the Telok Intan parliamentary constituency, where I am a registered voter for this seat, a battle of 2 horses are set for the next 13 days of campaigning.
Why do I describe it as a battle of 2 horses? Horse is pronounced as ma (马) in Mandarin. And the two candidates in a straight fight for the Telok Intan seat are:
- Datuk Mah Siew Keong (BN - PGRM) (Incumbent)
- M. Manogaran (DAP)
Datuk Mah Siew Keong is the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for Telok Intan. He won the seat in the 1999 and 2004 General Elections. He is also the Youth Chief of Parti Gerakan and at the time of the dissolution of Parliament, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Agro-based Industries.
M. Manogaran is the immediate past president of the Malaysian Tamil Education and Research Foundation, contesting for the first time under a DAP ticket.
The Telok Intan parliamentary constituency has been represented and won by Parti Gerakan in a Barisan Nasional (BN) ticket since 1974 except in the 1997 by-election held due to the death of then MP Ong Tin Kim. In the by-election, M. Kulasegaran of DAP defeated the BN candidate Dr. Chee See Choke with a majority of 2916 votes.
It is interesting to see how these 2 candidates fare in this General Election. While the Telok Intan seat is considered quite safe for the BN, any upset can happen like in the 1997 by-election. With current issues affecting the people such as rising inflation, dead body snatching incidents, corruption scandals, it remains to be seen how these issues will work to the advantage or disadvantage of the candidates. With close to 20% Indian voters in this constituency, it is also interesting to note whether the Hindraf issue has any impact on the results of this General Election.
State Constituencies
There are 2 state constituencies for the Perak State Assembly in the Telok Intan parliamentary constituency - N55 Pasir Bedamar and N56 Changkat Jong.
The Pasir Bedamar seat is mainly urban covering the town center of Teluk Intan, major housing estates in the suburbs and a rural section covering villages located close to the town. I am a registered voter for this state constituency.
Candidates for Pasir Bedamar:
- Lee Heng (BN - PPP)
- Seah Leong Peng (DAP) (Incumbent)
This is a repeat of the 2004 General Elections with these 2 candidates face off again in 2008. The Pasir Bedamar seat is a DAP stronghold. The only time DAP lost in Pasir Bedamar was in 1995 when urban voters throughout Malaysia voted in favour for the ruling BN-coalition.
The Changkat Jong state seat is mainly a rural constituency covering villages and plantations located in part of the rural side of Hilir Perak.
Candidates for Changkat Jong:
- Mohd Anuar Sudin (PAS)
- Idris Hashim (BN - UMNO)
There is a significant number of Indian voters in Changkat Jong and even the Menteri Besar of Perak has recently listed Changkat Jong as a seat to watch out. It is interesting to also see if the Hindraf issue has any impact, particularly among Indian voters in Changkat Jong. The BN has always won the Changkat Jong state seat in previous elections.
