LANGKAWI (May 8): It seemed like the circus had come to town in Bukit Malut, a coastal village tucked away from prying eyes and where Pakatan Harapan chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was scheduled to speak just two days before polling day.

The village of some 8,000 Myanmar Muslim descendants and Rohingyas has scant electricity and water supply but in the moonlight and motorcycle headlights, it was evident that most of the villagers were out of their houses, talking, walking around or standing in groups in anticipation of Mahathir's arrival.

It was obvious that the inhabitants of the cozy hamlet of poorly constructed kampung houses have shifted ground from what was once a Barisan Nasional 'fixed deposit' to Pakatan.

Mahathir told reporters that the coalition had broken through a 'long time ago' but after that BN came to do 'all kinds of good things which they could have done five years ago'.

"For five years they did not come but now that we are having the election, they suddenly come bringing wires and electricity, and water supply, and wanting to build houses.

"They had five years to do it and they wait until now. It is not sincere. They want these people to support them but these people, as you can see, are committed to voting for Pakatan," he said at the site.

He was warmly received by the villagers and sat down for dinner cooked by the locals outside a surau.

As he ate with his entourage, people just stood and watched, women carrying kids on their hips, youths filming the scene on their smartphones, and men discussing details of the group amid a general chatter as others quickly found seats in front of the stage, awaiting Mahathir's talk.

"We view him like our father because he has always helped us since the 1980s. We continued to vote for Barisan Nasional because of Mahathir although the coalition did very little to help us.

"Till today, only 800 houses have electricity and about half the number of households here has running water. We have on our own fixed cables to transfer electricity from houses which have electricity meters, and we pay a flat RM50 a month to its owner. This has been like this for decades," said an irate Yakob Ibrahim.

On top of that, he added, BN has yet to help re-build some of the houses that were burnt down in fires over the years.

The 47-year-old fisherman said making ends meet itself was difficult with petrol prices up and the goods and services tax (GST) eating into their already small household income.

"If Mahathir had not come out of BN and formed Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, we would still be supporting BN but now we have an option to change. A lot of us will give our votes to him," he added.

Hotel gardener Zakaria Mani, 28, said he came to Bukit Malut from Myanmar seven years ago after his parents, who used to live there, passed away.

"My house burnt down last year. The leaders promised to help me but nothing until now. I recently got my identification card and will be able to vote for the first time. Seeing how things have not changed all these years despite the promises made by BN, I think I will vote for Pakatan," he said in fluent Bahasa Malaysia.

Mother of six, Hajarah Mustafa said her children do not go to school every day because her fisherman husband cannot afford to give them bus fare and money for food.

"I tell my kids, today no need to go to school because I have no money to give. In a week, they will go to school two or three times. What else can my husband and I do? Life has become difficult after GST.

"Yes, there is 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M) but not all of us get it. Last year, we got BR1M but this year we didn't get. When we asked, the authorities told us that we have a car. My husband bought a second hand Proton Saga, and that makes us rich?" said the 43-year-old.

Starting his speech, Mahathir, a Langkawi parliamentary candidate this general election, said he was shocked to see that there were so many people in Bukit Malut including "those sitting up on the hillock".

He said he was aware that BN had come to put up electrical wirings in the village but had yet to connect it to the power grid.

"They will try to entice you some more but these are just empty promises, and you already know that," he said as the crowd cheered.

When asked later if he has broken into BN strongholds on island, he said: "Well, Langkawi has been a BN territory for 60 years but now if you look around, it is no longer BN fixed deposit."