TANJONG KARANG Nov 16 — Up until about one and a half decades ago, if you were craving fried chicken from KFC near Kuala Selangor, the only place to have it was at the then-sleepy Tanjong Karang — a half-an-hour bus ride from the main town.

Over the years, the growth between the two neighbouring towns could not be starker. Kuala Selangor now has a hypermarket, a McDonald’s drive-through, and many other amenities that came with rising housing areas and easy highway access via the Kuala Lumpur-Kuala Selangor Expressway (more known as Latar Expressway).

"Folks who live near Kuala Selangor the town work in Kuala Lumpur, Shah Alam and Klang, but the people who live here mostly work at school, farms and factories inside Kuala Selangor the district,” said Sungai Burong native Azman Ismail

"Kuala Selangor has had five different MPs since 1995, while Tanjong Karang has only had one,” he added.

Located a bit more than an hour from Kuala Lumpur, Tanjong Karang is the nearest place to the capital to see traditional fishermen and acres of paddy fields — a perfect location for producers of Malay drama series to film typical "kampung” scenes.

From the fishermen loading their haul near Pasir Penambang, paddy farmers harvesting their crops at Sawah Sempadan, and up-and-coming teachers undergoing courses at the Sekolah Menengah Raja Muda Musa education hub, the contrast between rural and urban Malay has long been blurred especially with more and more adults from here moving away to work elsewhere.

Even with an increase in voters, Tanjong Karang only has 62,194 eligible voters. Even though it covers a larger area than Kuala Selangor, the latter has more than double the number of eligible voters.

A predominantly Malay area with 78.2 per cent Malays, the previously Umno stronghold was heading for a bright future when a local former teacher and lawyer Tan Sri Noh Omar, then aged 37, was named as Umno’s candidate to represent the constituency in 1995 and won.

Noh would win five more subsequent elections and served seven times in the country’s administrations including in four ministerial posts, two as deputy minister, and one term as Parliamentary secretary. He has since become the most senior leader in Selangor Umno since 2008.

Quiet campaign without Noh this time

In the end, public attention and media spotlight fell on Tanjung Karang after Noh disclosed that for the first time in 27 years, he was not named as BN’s candidate to defend the seat.

"Tanjung Karang is a white area,” Noh told reporters who met on campaign trails in Sungai Buloh and Kuala Selangor, referring to the colour scheme to denote voters’ preference among political parties.

The fact that Tanjung Karang is considered unassailably pro-Umno showed Noh’s legacy in his former seat of power.

With a slim majority margin of just 1,970 votes in 2018, Noh’s replacement — Tanjung Karang women’s wing chief Datuk Habibah Mohd Yusof — is facing an uphill battle against her high-profile candidates from both Perikatan Nasional (PN), and Malaysia United Democratic Alliance (Muda) that is allied with Pakatan Harapan (PH).

Even local leaders told Malay Mail that without Noh’s backing, victory is far from guaranteed.

"We could defend the seat if Tan Sri Noh comes to campaign and use all his influence to garner the support,” said one of the local leaders who wanted to be anonymous to Malay Mail, a sentiment which is echoed by others.

"Tan Sri has power, influence and reach of the locals which most don’t have,” said a grassroots Umno worker who only wanted to be quoted as Cikgu Li, referring to Noh.

Previously when Noh was one of the names on the ballot, he would be paraded by hundreds of Umno members to the nomination centre. But Habibah only had a crowd of less than 100, most of them from the women’s wing she leads and local MIC leaders.

Despite speculations of sabotage from Noh’s camp, Habibah has repeatedly defended Noh when asked various times during her campaign rounds.

"[There is no sabotage] because we understand that Tan Sri Noh Omar is an experienced leader. He is a figurehead and has been an MP for Tanjong Karang for almost 30 years, which is six terms. He is so mature and so understands this situation. When the party decides to give a seat to someone else, he understands very well,” she told reporters.

Lacklustre campaigning from all sides

Judging from Nomination Day, BN’s small entourage did not seem to be out of the ordinary when other rivals’ supporters also did not turn up in numbers.

Muda’s candidate Siti Rahayu Baharin might be a fresh face, but the fiery lady who has established herself as an education activist in Kuala Lumpur is ready to take on the challenge.

Despite giving her a warm welcome, locals however seemed to be wary of voicing out support for her.

"She said she is a former teacher and values the importance of education, it is good. But she needs the experience to take care of people’s needs as well, not just education,” said Mohd Faisol Othman.

The retired civil servant from a village here said a party with a track record of caring for the needs of local voters is better than a candidate from a party that cannot do so.

"The problems here are mostly people that need help for aid, getting their children to get their application accepted, and farmers and fishermen who need aid.

"Even Tan Sri Noh Omar can’t serve the people here alone by himself,” he said, drawing comparison with Muda’s status as a small new party, and not even an official component of Pakatan Harapan that currently governs Selangor.

Elder locals also brought up what they saw as the lack of support for Muda from PKR — which holds one of the state assembly seats under the Tanjung Karang federal seat.

"The Muda candidate seems nice but I don’t see local PKR leaders helping them,” said Azhar Rabu, a local contractor who helped with the campaign in the 2018 election.

The lacklustre campaign theme continues with Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) Datuk Zulkafperi Hanapi, who had nearly won against Noh in 2018.

With his presence even less noticed than his other two rivals, the Selangor Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia deputy chief and Subang division chief put it down to him preferring to use other methods of campaigning rather than walkabout and meeting voters face-to-face.

"I don’t really see him doing walkabouts in the villages here,” said a local eatery owner who only wanted to be called Halim, referring to Zulkafperi.

"Perhaps he is focusing his campaign on the other areas.”

Familiar with the campaigning in the area, Halim said that the only politician who voters here remember remain to be Noh, and his absence left a big hole to fill.

"He might be criticised because of his personality but he is still considered a local man. The others are outsiders but now is the time to choose a new representative for this place I guess,” he said when asked about the campaign which by then had been going on for a few days,

Two other candidates in the running are former actor turned road safety activist Azlan Sani Zawawi who contests under the name "Lando Brotherhood” under Gerakan Tanah Air, and independent Mohd Rosni Mastol.