SABAK BERNAM, June 5 — Budiman Mohd Zohdi is a man of many hats, his most recent being ruling coalition Barisan Nasional’s (BN) candidate for the Sungai Besar by-election on June 18.
The 44-year-old Sungai Panjang assemblyman is a local from the constituency itself and is famous in his area for championing local issues like problems faced by farmers and fishermen in the agriculture-based rural seat.
When not busy with politics, Budiman who is fondly called YB Baju Kotak (because of his penchant for wearing checked shirts) by Sungai Besar natives, likes singing with buskers in public, producing YouTube videos and hanging out with the local youths at warungs.
All this has made him a crowd favourite among the constituents.
The author of several books, including one titled Propaganda Power, is optimistic about his chances despite BN’s narrow victory (399 votes) in the 2013 general elections. He is confident he will be able to swing Chinese votes to his side and win handsomely with his “unconventional” approach towards politics and life.
In his own words:
I’m basically from a political family. The background of the politics in my family, however, is mixed. Some are Umno members and some are from PAS. I used to follow my dad to talks and discourses. I got introduced to the world of politics as early as five or six years old.
The spirit of being a volunteer got me into being a politician. I always had a sense of volunteerism in me. When I was younger, I was not good at playing football but I would be at the field. What's the reason I was there? If somebody kicks the ball into the ditch, I will go pick it up and give it back to the players. I was a ballboy – even when the ball went into the cemetery near my school. It is in my blood, the genetics of volunteerism is very high. My mum, dad and whole family have this. No one had to teach me this spirit, but this has happened naturally.
I’m a local here, I was born here. The people here know me, this is my taman. I went to school here from Standard 1 to Form 5. I’m not someone new. If I was a parachute candidate, maybe there would be some problems. One thing you need to remember, in politics you can’t act. It is not easy to pretend. I have my focus structured. I want to be different than others. Any baby that is born here I will come and visit with the Puteri Umno because this is working hard.
I handle my own Facebook account. If you study it properly, I get a lot of support from netizens that I don’t personally know. There are also people who made caricatures of me, as well as Budion, which is supposed to be my minion. I don’t know why I get this support. They feel a sense of togetherness as though I am a part of them. I wear a checked shirt like them everywhere I go, people know me by that.
I am currently pursuing my PHD in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, researching propaganda. I’m studying the current pattern of politics in the country. The most important thing is being popular. Being popular there are two sides, some are popular because they are liked, some are popular because they are not liked.
In the kampung, it is important to acknowledge these things. We must have the fundamentals to touch people’s hearts. The word for me is trust. They must have a trust that you are the kind of person that if someone is in trouble, would get down and help.
This is political marketing. What is the approach of political marketing? Instead of being from leadership to followers, it can be from an icon to fans. If you want to be iconic, you don’t have to be handsome. As long as you can be close to the people and face the struggles alongside with them.
This is New Age politics. I have written books and have an article in Utusan. I want to frame myself as an intellectual politician. I have my own talk show, I am an author, I am a motivational speaker in schools and universities.
You got to be ngam with the people, I must be seen as part of them. Over 10,000 people have seen my video singing and acting. I got the inspiration to make those kind of videos from movies. I am a movie lover. I like Tamil movies even. Tamil movies on politics fascinate me, I am a Rajnikanth fan. Sometimes even though the movies are irrational, the politics and dynamics in them are brilliant. I’m also a House of Cards fan. It is really good, there is such a good play on politics there. I used to watch The West Wing a lot, in the last 10 years. There are not a lot of people that would pick out stuff from shows like that for their own campaigns.
If you are doing that, everyone will follow you. Lead by example and people will start following you. I go to a Chinese funeral, I can’t tell other assemblyman to do that but hopefully when they see me doing it, they would like to follow suit. When they see you get down and do it yourself, they will follow it.
