KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim swooped in on rival territory in the opposition-ruled northern swing state of Kedah on Friday with promises to help the poor.

His target: farmers in the seat held by popular caretaker chief minister Sanusi Md Nor.

An estimated 3,000 settlers greeted Datuk Seri Anwar in the Felda Teloi Timur settlement. It is part of the Jeneri state ward, where Sanusi is defending his seat against Muhamad Khizri Abu Kassim from Umno, the leading party in the Barisan Nasional (BN) alliance.

Mr Anwar, whose unity government mainly comprises his Pakatan Harapan coalition and former rival BN, flew in by helicopter to reach the rural seat, a move which appeared to have been mocked by Sanusi on his Facebook page.

He posted a selfie of himself looking up at the sky with his mouth open, captioned “Is that a helicopter coming to celebrate Hari Raya?”, which garnered some 6,000 likes.

The Premier pledged to bring changes to Felda, saying he had previously approved an RM8.3 billion (S$2.4 billion) allocation to waive Felda settlers’ debts in June.

Felda, or the Federal Land Development Authority, was formed in 1956 by former prime minister Tun Razak Hussein to help poor Malays own land and raise successful plantations, initially turning the farmers into a vote bank for Umno.

Reducing settlers’ debts or loans is an important target for the Prime Minister as Umno is struggling to retain Malay support.

Ahead of the Aug 12 election in six states, Mr Anwar has been dishing out goodies in Kedah, including RM3 billion to boost padi production in the “rice bowl” state, which accounts for the country’s highest padi output.

Both Mr Anwar’s federal government and Kedah’s opposition state government have claimed credit for a €5 billion (S$7.4 billion) investment by Infineon Technologies announced on Thursday.

The German chipmaker plans to boost its plant in Kedah’s Kulim industrial zone.

“I brought in a German investor… The one that built Kulim Hi-Tech Park was the federal government and the one that brought in investments was also the federal government,” Mr Anwar was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency at a rally in Jitra, Kedah, on Friday night.

“Kedah is one of the poorest states. To win, we need a leader who is not the type to shout and insult, but someone who knows how to do the job and can negotiate with the federal government,” he said in an apparent reference to Sanusi, who is well known for his brash and no-holds-barred manner of speaking.

But Sanusi, who is from Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), a key component of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) alliance, said this week he had been working with Infineon to expand its investments in the state since 2022.

Kedah PAS information chief Mohd Azam Abd Samat told The Straits Times: “We are certain, God willing, that our administration’s performance over the last three years will convince the people. We have achieved a lot.”

Sanusi became the state’s menteri besar, or chief minister, after the PH state government was toppled in 2020 following a major shift of alliances among politicians in the state.

To boost its support among Malay voters in Malaysia, Mr Anwar’s ruling coalition is hoping to wrest Kedah back.

Of the six states headed for the polls on Aug 12, PN controls the state governments of Kedah, Terengganu and Kelantan. Mr Anwar’s PH-BN alliance controls the other three state assemblies – Penang, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan.

A controversial yet popular figure in Kedah, Sanusi has accused Mr Anwar’s administration of launching investigations against him to curtail his influence.

He has been charged with making seditious remarks against the Selangor ruler and accused of being linked to the theft of rare earth elements in his state.

Despite all his troubles with the federal government, Sanusi remains the most popular politician in Kedah, according to an analyst’s survey.

“Other politicians don’t come close to Sanusi. Anwar is second, and (PN chairman) Muhyiddin Yassin comes third, but there is a huge gap between all of them,” Dr Mazlan Ali, senior lecturer at the Razak Faculty of Technology and Informatics, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, told ST.

Prior to the state assembly being dissolved for the election, PN component parties PAS and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia controlled Kedah with 20 seats in the 36-seat assembly. PH and BN held 12 seats, while the Pejuang party, led by Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, the son of former premier Mahathir Mohamad, had two seats.

Kedah has been a swing state since 2008, when it was controlled by BN. Yet it might prove to be a Herculean labour for PH and its ally BN to regain control of the state.

Waning support for BN’s linchpin party Umno has favoured PN. At the general election in November 2022, PN swept 14 of the 15 parliamentary seats in Kedah.