PETALING JAYA, Oct 4 — The normally quiet nights of Sungai Limau in Kedah will be disturbed from October 22 until November 4 when Barisan Nasional (BN) and PAS begin their scramble to win the hearts and minds of some 27,287 voters there.

Located between Kuala Kedah which is 15km away and Yan another 10km, Sungai Limau is a flat padi land where life is serene and tranquil.

Sungai Limau is one of the three state seats under the Jerai Parliamentary constituency with some 93 percent Malay voters. The other two state seats are Guar Chempedak and Gurun, the latter having some 40 per cent Chinese voters and it is an MCA seat.

With the major occupation of the people there being paddy farmers and fishermen, political ideology does not take centre stage but the traditional Muslim thinking comes with the territory, hence PAS has been the choice as their representative.

The young people work in several rice factories located in the constituency while the majority work in factories around Sungai Petani and Yan. Kuala Kedah is not an industrial town and thus factories are few. Sungai Limau does not lack physical structures and tarred roads and is not a typical kampung of sorts.

In the May 5 general election, Tan Sri Seri Azizan Abdul Razak was hardly seen during the campaign period due to his health and yet, he polled 13,294 votes to beat BN’s Mohd Fadzillah Mohd Ali by 2,774 votes.

Oblivious to the development around Sungai Limau such as in Kuala Kedah and Yan and even Sungai Petani, it is BN’s job to open the minds of the voters to the need of development that can give them better life.

And the responsibility falls on Menteri Besar Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir who is getting the “feel” of real politics because a by-election is totally different from the general election that he faced on May 5 this year.

Mukhriz may have his hands full on how to win the voters over as right now there are not many issues that BN can please the voters.

This will Mukhriz’s first test of wisdom and public relation as that was how the late Azizan won the hearts and minds of Sungai Limau.