MAY 25 — After 10 days on Semenanjung Malaysia’s east — inching up along the coast from Johor’s Mersing to Kelantan’s Kok Lanas — my group cuts across the Titiwangsa Range heading to Penang.

From the quiet to the noisy.

The starkest of contrasts when the east and west of the peninsula are compared. Same land mass but were two parts ever more different?

The Pet Shop Boys’ track Go West should have been on loop for the drive.

Every kilometre from the outskirts of Kulim to the Penang Bridge, increasingly urban. The buildings, roads and cars said as much.

It’s not merely mountains which divide the regions but ideas and beliefs, a way of life.

The east and west. Both face polls in a couple of months. Kelantan and Terengganu face the South China Sea and Penang and Kedah stare at the start of the Straits of Malacca.

Observations from my travels I’ll share.

To see the politics spoken through the people and the places.

Dungun — Peking is here, takmbo bir

The cobblers at Dungun Market were a merry lot. Around them, a weekend crowd at both the eateries and playground filled up this morning.

At their end, they were having their own version of a barbershop. Commentaries running wild, seemingly aimless but cutting into a core. A centre they subscribe to.

One of the three, with a beard, was convinced my friend was a karate champion from YouTube. No amount of denying was going to wash with him. He worked permutations of who he’d defeat and be defeated by his new found "champion”.

Then the conversation veers to polls, the state elections due soon.

The eyes of the quiet cobbler lit up. Clean faced and probably youngest of the crew, he went ballistic. And his comrades were keener than keen to goad him on. Mr Cleanface was not a fan of the prime minister. He mocked the cost of living in Dungun, claiming tongue in cheek that it was super low.

He was still hollering as we walked past the bundle shops on the way to our parked car.

By night we were in Peking, the restaurant.

It served beer and Chinese cuisine but they close early, all potential patrons to be warned. A recurring tale with Chinese food along the coast. The east.

This restaurant was family run. No foreign workers, just kin. Dad ran the cash till and played waiter, while wife, son and daughter-in-law worked the wok. At the end of the day as they close, the family eats together.

The internet tells people it is Peking, but the physical property has no exterior signage. No one needs to know there is alcohol here.

Usually, beer companies pay for signages in the Klang Valley, but in this situation neither owner nor supplier were interested to advertise. This is PAS-run Terengganu. The only other curiosity was the early era Beatles poster at eye level in the dining area.

The need to be inconspicuous was not lost on me or my companions.

Kok Lanas — Ketereh without Annuar

Found a homestay in a housing area primarily for the staff and students of Kota Bharu Polytechnic. Met Leman who likes his football, he wanted me to like it too. He asked me to buy shoes to play when I showed up to the taman’s pitch.

I opted for barefoot in the park, not sure it was my brightest choice for the trip considering my heart medication. Brought me back to the days playing fullback for the Kelantanese team in UKM.

In this scrimmage — opposed to the norm but suited to accommodation — both teams had 15 players. At one point the goalpost and crossbar collapsed.

The lads were friendly and sad to see us go, we left the next morning.

But not before a chance to coffee up at Nasken. Never knew this chain till we caught sight of their advertisement board at the Kelantan-Kuala Lumpur match which played on the telly the night we arrived.

I arrived at Nasken Kok Lanas, located on the first floor, which had a whole wall dedicated to former minister and Umno warlord Annuar Musa. Incidentally, it was the day they reported he had applied to join PAS having been for the better part of two decades the MB candidate to lead Umno to win back the state.

Not sure that helps with coffee sales moving forward.

The chances of Umno have dimmed in the state when the two largest personalities of Umno Kelantan Mustapa Mohamed and Annuar have quit the party or were forced out.

It is not the politics which intrigued me on the trip, it was the dying of a way of life.

Chinese food was to be found at Taman Puspajaya A, which requires one to drive past Taman Puspajaya B. A small nondescript shop in a quiet corner, almost apologetic.

The only family there was the owner’s. The table beside us had three distinctively Chinese looking men speaking in the Kelantanese dialect. Middle-aged, them and those at the other tables.

Where were their children. Is their future in their hometown? Is this home anymore, or just a clearing station?

Penang — A light dream which never ends

In normal times, Penang is par for the course. Maybe a bit too Chinese.

Coming to it after days in the east, where multiculturalism struggles to sustain, it is a welcome scene for someone like me raised in Kuala Lumpur.

The lights, the Tiger and Carlsberg beer signages scream open for business.

Aida the receptionist at our Batu Gelugor Motel has only four letters to her name, she says proudly. Next to her the more senior Nasihah. She works here but done well for herself, since she has an apartment in Kuala Lumpur’s Taman OUG. They are clever, sharp, knowledgeable and confident about themselves.

Would they be if Penang was not the land of opportunities? I understand that is a throwaway line but for minorities economic advancements due to economic opportunities are always central, why would they be any different in Malaysia?

Over in Balik Pulau, at the quieter end of the island, a durian season kicks off.

They had the expensive fruit but that’s where their liberalism ended.

They were concerned about the halal status of the meals.

After all, Penang Island is Chinese.

But here’s a question.

Does that mean the area, the island is less Malaysian?

If so, should areas deserve more based on their demographic? Be careful how to answer that.

KL-home, for better or worse

In three days, I’d be back in the valley.

It is funny. I had a meal with my ex-student in Penang. Dengz was always going to go home to Bayan Lepas after he graduated from his four-year degree in Cyberjaya. Because to him it is home. For that Hokkien speaker.

Funny since that’s how it is for this city boy. Whether on the east or any part of the west coast, nothing is home like in the warm, pedestrian walkways absent parts of Hulu Langat.

The state elections will say things and maybe in the short term disjointed from the larger reality. But the divides between east and west grow by the day due to choices and geography.

Johor won’t rate its east as highly, and Pahang wishes proximity to Selangor’s economy rather than the languished economies of the other two east coast states.

The broadly accepted opinion in Malaysian politics is that economic development moves voters to the liberal end and away from the others. It is just as true in other countries.

In my time in the north-east, the beams and constructions related to the East Coast Railway Line march on. They may already signal a new future for that coast. Fixed and reliable hours between Kelantan and Port Klang.

For those who stayed at only one side of the two coasts, you are cheating yourself cognisance of the larger world you are from. The contrast, the knowledge of it, only makes you better.

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.