Waiting for the day that top BN leaders stand in urban seats and PH in rural ones

Why is it that, come general elections, top Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders almost always stand in rural or semi-rural seats while their Pakatan Harapan (PH) counterparts contest in urban ones? 

This perception is so ingrained that when Khairy Jamaluddin was fielded in urban Sungai Buloh for the upcoming general election, some pundits felt that the health minister was sent there to meet his political Waterloo.

This has been the trend for the longest time now, and not a particularly healthy one. This election, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is defending his Bagan Datuk seat; Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Bera; MCA president Wee Ka Siong, Ayer Hitam; and MIC president SA Vigneswaran, Sungai Siput. These are all non-urban seats.

On the other end of the spectrum, Anwar Ibrahim is standing in Tambun, just outside Ipoh city, DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke is in Seremban, and Amanah president Mohamed Sabu is in Kota Raja, which is adjacent to Shah Alam and Klang. 

This is why Khairy deserves the utmost respect for his courage to move from his rural Rembau where he was the MP for two terms to Sungai Buloh, located just outside Kuala Lumpur.

But why does it matter where top leaders stand? It does because it affects policy decisions and political leanings that can have a far-reaching impact on our country's future. 

If top leaders of a political bloc represent largely rural seats, they will tend to play to that gallery at the expense of urban sentiments. For example, they may give disproportionate weightage to rural infrastructural development while paying much less attention to issues like judiciary independence which resonate with urban voters.

Similarly, a political coalition which relies heavily on urban voters may be detached from the plight of folks in the interior, whose top concern is livelihood issues, not lofty ideals like media freedom or curbing China's growing influence in the South China Sea.

Understandably, these are all a matter of political expediency. Leaders want to win in elections. Period. 

But when two major opposing political blocs hold sway over voters along the rural-urban divide, it only makes this country even more polarised. This is made worse given how rural seats are largely Malay-dominated while urban ones have more non-Malay voters.

I think politicians from across the aisle should start getting out of their comfort zones. For a start, BN can start to field more mid-level leaders in urban seats while PH does the same in rural ones. They can start as early as next year when several states will go to the polls. 

I hope that in my lifetime, I will see an Umno president winning in seats like Bukit Bintang and Cheras and the DAP secretary-general winning in constituencies like Gerik or Pengkalan Chepa.

We need more Khairy Jamaluddins who have the courage to step into unfamiliar territories. But voters must also play their part and reward these leaders by voting them in. Only then can we hope to have more holistic development and to bring down the political temperature which has unnecessarily dragged this country down longer than it should.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of MalaysiaNow.