LIVE from KT: The buzz at a Chinese cafe

1100: We return to the same cafe where we had roti paun yesterday. This seems to be a happening place. Seated at the table by the entrace, a couple of Pas volunteers are working on a laptop. They have also blown small green Pas balloons which bob around.

Inside the crowded cafe, the sound of chatter fills the air. People are reading the Chinese newspapers. At a table near us, a Chinese guy is looking at the front page of the latest Suara Keadilan, with the headline “Najib bohong” about the Permatang Pauh pledges.

Next to us, a group of young Chinese election volunteers are having breakfast.

This time, we are having char siew pau and black bean pau, along with local iced coffee.

A Pas guy, wearing a Free Palestine T-shirt, walks around distributing a special edition of Kuala, the Terengganu Pas newsletter. The front page highlights the existence of a fake version of the paper that has smeared the Pas candidate.

The mainstream media, on the other hand, are talking of a late swing in favour of the BN, with a last-minute push by BN big-guns influencing Malay voters on the fence.  DAP activists say they have been distributing the Rocket, PKR workers the Suara Keadilan, Pas volunteers Harakah, while the BN folks have been handing out…. Utusan Malaysia!

A retired government servant ambles up to say hello. We exchange pleasantries and I ask him about his impression of the election campaign so far.

“From my contacts in government, I hear that the tide has turned in the last two days towards the BN, giving it a slight edge. Before that, Pas had the edge. Now they tell me that many Chinese shopowners in town have shuttered their shops as they are being harassed by different teams of opposition campaigners unlike the BN, which has just one team going around.”

But then, he adds, “Deep down though, I believe the Pas candidate has the edge.”

DAP volunteers in the coffee-shop tell me that the PKR’s dinner at the Ocean restaurant last night was hugely successful, with Anwar in his element. PKR party workers distributed membership forms to the crowd and they are confident that the majority of the Chinese vote are in the bag.

Raja Petra has also been in town, and, I am told, is a “tourist attraction” in his own right while Zaid Ibrahim has also been a hit as a speaker.

The Pas newsletter Kuala has an item pointing to two Internet polls, one on Yahoo and the other on MStar. According to the report, the Yahoo poll had the Pas candidate bagging 72 per cent of the votes while the MStar poll had the Pas candidate bagging 82 per cent. Then again, you never know with Internet polls.

I look around again. At another table near me, another Chinese gentleman is reading the front-page of Kuala, the Pas newsletter.

On our way out, the Pas volunteer at the laptop cautions us that Kuala Terengganu cannot be compared to Permatang Pauh. “When the Permatang Pauh by-election was held, Penang was already under a Pakatan government and people felt less insecure about voting for Pakatan. Here, the BN is still ruling the state and the Chinese might be afraid of risking their businesses or losing their licences… This is a psy-war.”

“But,” he adds, “I believe more Malays are now behind us judging from the feedback we received during a ceramah held in a BN area.”

It’s now pouring again. Is an East Coast Monsoon about to strike?

If you are in Kuala Terengganu, do post a comment and share with us what you think of the sentiment on the ground.