94-year-old joins poll race in Malaysia
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While political parties have kicked off their campaigns, Maimun Yusof has barely started her one-woman campaign for the general elections.
The 94-year-old, who is contesting the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat as an independent, said she was in the process of preparing some posters and hoped to set up a “campaign tent” in Cabang Tiga here.
“I’m not going to put posters everywhere like other parties. My campaign will be through word of mouth, on this,” she said, as she wheeled out her weathered red bicycle.
Maimun, better known as Tok Mun, is possibly the most famous and mysterious candidate in the constituency. She became a media sensation when she contested the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat in the 2008 elections.
This time around, she will be going against Barisan Nasional’s Mohd Zubir Embong and Datuk Raja Kamarul Bahrin Raja Shah of PAS. Her candidacy has been the gossip of the town, with locals jokingly speculating about her motives. Even her neighbours do not know what to make of her.
“But I think she’s the most informed of us all – we know she’s at home because she’ll have her television on full volume as she watches the news every night,” added the neighbour.
At a meeting yesterday, Tok Mun was amiable and very eager to talk about politics.
“They [the existing political parties] are not genuine so I must enter politics myself. It is my right to contest, and I want to safeguard Malay rights ... I want our way of life to be preserved.
“The people here in my village, I tell them all this, but they don’t understand,” she said. When asked about how she managed to remain active, the grandmother of 19 said the trick was to “keep your body and mind healthy”.
“I watch the news on my television every night; the movies and dramas are useless, they don’t teach you anything.
“I only eat home-cooked food, and I steam or grill everything,” she said.
As she is already a household name, it may not matter that Tok Mun lacks a sophisticated election campaign.
As she cycles over 5-kilometres from her home to Cabang Tiga, holding up an umbrella in one hand to protect her from the scorching heat, Tok Mun gets smiles and waves from people she passes by.
Unfazed by having lost her deposit of 10,000 ringgit (Bt94,300) after only garnering 685 votes in 2008, Tok Mun hopes this time more people would vote for her.
“I am not rich or powerful ... but I am fighting for something real,” she said.
