Off Cape Rachado near Port Dickson stands a lighthouse that for more than a century has been guiding galleons, steamers and these days, GPS-installed vessels, along the notoriously busy and narrow Straits of Malacca.

Built in the 1860s, this whitewashed structure apparently stands at the same spot where another lighthouse was built after the marauding Portuguese conquered Melaka in 1511.

For some reason, even locals don’t know that the enclave which houses the lighthouse, now known as Tanjung Tuan, comes under the jurisdiction of Melaka despite its proximity to Port Dickson in Negri Sembilan.

Many are surprised to find out that something which has for so long been associated with Port Dickson is actually the property of another state.

Some diehard Pakatan Harapan supporters have likened the lighthouse to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, whom they say is Port Dickson’s man of the hour and “MP-in-waiting”.

Just like the Cape Rachado lighthouse, “Anwar may be an outsider but he will be the best to guide Pakatan MPs in Parliament, where he will also help oversee reforms”, said PKR’s Sri Tanjung assemblyman M. Ravi.

Many Pakatan supporters share Ravi’s sentiments and have been doing their bit to ensure the PM-in-waiting wins handsomely in today’s by-election.

Anwar won the hearts of many detractors when he refused to use any government machinery during the campaign period.

Man of the people: Anwar (centre) meeting the people during an armed forces veterans programme at Port Dickson. — Bernama

From his first campaign stop at a local gurdwara, he then went on to visit mosques and surau, Chinese tokong and Indian temples.

Local folk were star-struck when they saw Anwar in person during his visits to the market or having breakfast at restaurants, or during his ceramah, and they would ask to take wefies with him.

And Anwar, the man many grew up watching on television, always obliged – so much so that he ended spending more time doing this than giving speeches.

At most meetings with the people, Anwar quickly made it clear that he was not going to give handouts but he still promised better days for the townsfolk if he won.

Many have been heartened by what they say is his sincerity.

Apart from pledging to promote Port Dickson as a premier tourism destination, he has only made three other promises to the constituency.

The first is a free online tuition programme for all subjects for students from Year One to Form Five. The second is to have more affordable houses, while the third is to enlist the support of a big airline to promote tourism in the resort town.

All three projects, he insisted, would be spearheaded by the private sector.

Still, the people made more requests and Anwar has promised to do his best to address them.

Just about everyone – from fishermen, workers at the three independent power plants (IPPs), folk from the estates and Chinese new villages, to hotels and operators of small businesses – have had their day with the PKR president-elect to air their grievances.

The fishermen at Kg Kuala Lukut want the estuary deepened for better accessibility to the sea during high and low tides, IPP workers want better job security, those in the estates hope for improved living conditions, while hotels and tourism players want more tourism promotions and cleaner beaches.

And cheaper homes are a concern for almost all of them.

Some want abandoned projects, including the high-rise condominiums facing the sea, to be either revived or demolished.

Apart from the Seremban-Port Dickson Highway built more than 20 years ago and the new high-end hotels to attract tourists, they feel the resort town has been neglected and often overlooked despite being so close to the Klang Valley.

In fact, the constituents also want a highway built from here to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport to cut travel time and allow more passengers on transit to stay in Port Dickson.

They said it now takes more than an hour to get between both points although the distance is less than 50km.

Anwar has already shot down a request by the Port Dickson Residents’ Association for a duty-free area to be set up here like Stulang Laut in Johor, as well as to revive the Seremban-Port Dickson railway line abandoned some nine years ago – simply because the government does not have the funds for these.

Anwar, who has been supported by a well-oiled election machinery running into the hundreds, might be new to Port Dickson but deep down, he knows that he must deliver since some political observers have already dubbed this contest a fight between unequals.

Indeed, Universiti Malaya political analyst Prof Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi said Anwar should do even better than the former MP Datuk Danyal Balagopal Abdullah, who secured a majority of 17,710 votes in a three-cornered fight.

“Anwar should get a majority of between 20,000 and 30,000 because this by-election is not only to pick an MP but a prime minister,” he said.

Anwar will also have a reputation to protect because prime ministers, for obvious reasons, always do a lot for their constituents.

National Council of Professors research fellow Dr Muhammad Asri Mohd Ali concurred with Prof Awang.

“Anwar will win big and some candidates will lose their deposit. So Anwar will have a huge task ahead after the by-election,” he said.

With Indian actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan describing Anwar as a “beacon of hope” for the people of Port Dickson, Anwar knows that he will have to walk the talk and bring the shine back to Port Dickson.

For the next time PD folks whip out their mobile phones, it may not be just to capture a selfie with their MP, but to immortalise on camera an image of a new Port Dickson – a town that lives up to its true potential and one that will serve as a shining example for the rest of the nation to follow, much like the Tanjung Tuan beacon that has been a guiding light for ships over the centuries.