In Bandar Tun Razak, BN supporters want an Umno candidate, not MCA

In the busy township of Bandar Tun Razak, two Malay villages stand out amid the towering skyscrapers, busy highways and bustling commercial centres that otherwise dominate the area. 

At Kampung Malaysia Tambahan and Kampung Malaysia Raya, the residents are waiting to see who will represent them in Parliament once the dust settles on the Nov 19 polls.

Barisan Nasional (BN), for its part, will be fielding a candidate from MCA – Chew Yeen Kein – returning to its practice of choosing a representative from the Chinese party after departing from tradition to select an Umno candidate at the last general election. 

Bandar Tun Razak Umno chief Razak Rizalman Mokhtar was supposed to contest, but BN changed its candidate to Adnan Seman following the former's nightclub controversy. 

Speaking to MalaysiaNow, Razali Ismail said he would vote for BN again this time after supporting the opposition at the 14th general election (GE14).

"But since the BN candidate is from MCA, I am torn," he added. "I was expecting a candidate from Umno."

According to him, MCA is not very popular in either of the two villages.

The Bandar Tun Razak seat covers some 25 sq km and has a total population of 191,318. 

Of these, Bumiputeras form the majority (69.4%) followed by the Chinese (23.2%) and Indians (6.7%). 

Razali said MCA had been a force to reckon with in the constituency before PKR began making inroads there. 

The seat was contested in 1999 by PKR's Chandra Muzaffar, who faced off against Tan Chai Ho.

Tan won the seat, successfully defending it at the 2004 general election although he lost to Abdul Khalid Ibrahim in 2008.

Khalid would go on to hold the seat for another term after that. 

The incumbent, Kamarudin Jaffar, who contested on a PKR ticket, won with a comfortable majority of 19,930 votes. 

Now a Bersatu representative, he will square off against former deputy prime minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. 

Zainudin Amran, chairman of the Kampung Malaysia Raya residents, said he was looking forward to the nominations for the parliamentary seat. 

"It's true that there are sentiments in favour of a Malay candidate," he said. 

But he also expressed a preference for local faces, saying PH candidates were all "outsiders". 

"From Chandra to Khalid and now Wan Azizah," he said. "But this time, they are fielding big names so this might not be much of an issue." 

The issues occupying the residents include traffic congestion and noise pollution, the result of rapid development throughout the area. 

Roslan Abd Rahman, a former PKR activist in the village area, said the Bandar Tun Razak branch of Bersatu had yet to fully accept Kamarudin.

"Wan Azizah might win this time, but with how much of a majority? This would depend on whether she faced an Umno candidate or MCA.

"She would have a big fight ahead if she were up against an Umno candidate, but with MCA, her majority will be bigger." 

Based on his observations, he said, Wan Azizah's biggest challenge would be to mobilise the local machinery to help her campaign in Bandar Tun Razak. 

A young man named Mohd Fadhil meanwhile said that while Wan Azizah was the bigger name, he preferred a more approachable candidate. 

"We can talk to Rizalman," he said.