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By Mihar Dias February 2026
Langkawi has heard promises before. Long before Zaid Ibrahim discovered the island on a political map, https://www.facebook.com/share/16wXyuPu9o/
Langkawi already knew what it meant to be cursed, neglected and then romanticised. Mahsuri, after all, taught us generations ago that injustice has consequences. The tragedy is that even centuries later, Langkawi is still living with the after-effects — not of folklore, but of policy indifference.
So when Zaid Ibrahim announces his intention to contest Langkawi, one is tempted to ask: why should Langkawi vote for him when he isn’t telling Langkawi folks anything they don’t already know? Islanders don’t need a visiting intellectual to explain that wages are low, prices are high, tourism is seasonal, and opportunity leaks away like sand through fingers. They live it daily.
Zaid’s diagnosis is not wrong. Langkawi is underdeveloped. Tourism is its lifeline, yet it generates a modest RM7 billion annually — a rounding error compared to Phuket’s roughly 300 billion baht. Fishing contributes a paltry RM35 million. There is no port, no bridge, no manufacturing ecosystem worth mentioning beyond a lone cement plant. Eighty per cent of the land remains undeveloped, dotted with picturesque but economically unproductive padi plots. https://www.facebook.com/share/16wXyuPu9o/
But here’s the uncomfortable question: does Langkawi need a Kelantan gentleman — or shall we say, warrior — to arrive and narrate its suffering back to itself?
Zaid’s proposals sound grand when read on Facebook: a 30-kilometre bridge to Kuala Perlis for RM15 billion, a deep-sea port to attract regional shipping, Taiwan-style open-sea aquaculture, industrialisation, connectivity. All reasonable ideas. https://www.facebook.com/share/16wXyuPu9o/
All ideas Langkawi has heard, in one form or another, from consultants, ministers, and visiting VIPs who fly in, talk big, and fly out.
What Langkawi lacks is not ideas. It lacks political priority.
Compare this with Penang — and forgive Langkawi residents if they read the news with envy. Penang, an island half the size of Langkawi, has received over RM16 billion in investments from China alone in the past decade. Since DAP joined the Madani government, the federal government has promised RM30 billion for Penang’s traffic master plan: LRTs, tunnels, ring roads. Penang already has two bridges and is flirting with a third. https://www.facebook.com/share/16wXyuPu9o/
Langkawi? It can’t even secure consistent attention from the Tourism Minister, despite being one of Malaysia’s most recognisable destinations.
This is not a failure of imagination. It is a failure of federal commitment.
Zaid frames himself as an outsider who will speak for Langkawi, unburdened by party whips and internal warfare. That may sound noble. But Langkawi voters are entitled to ask a harder question: why must Langkawi rely on political freelancing to be heard? Why must development depend on who can whisper loudest in Putrajaya, rather than on a coherent national vision for island economies?
And then there is the symbolism. Zaid speaks of Langkawi as a “symbol of how committed the government is to the development of the Malay world.” https://www.facebook.com/share/16wXyuPu9o/
That’s a heavy banner to carry into an election. Langkawi residents might reasonably wonder whether they are being asked to vote for development — or for an idea.
The irony is this: Langkawi does not need rescuing by an outsider with a dream. It needs the federal government — whichever coalition is in power — to treat it with the same seriousness it extends to Penang. Infrastructure is not a gift; it is policy. Ports, bridges, aquaculture and manufacturing zones are not fantasies; they are decisions.
Mahsuri’s curse, after all, was never mystical. It was about injustice and abandonment. Langkawi’s continued underdevelopment is not fate. It is choice.
So will Langkawi welcome a man who claims to speak for them? Perhaps. Islanders are pragmatic people. But they may also ask: if even Tourism Ministers struggle to move the needle, what can one independent MP realistically deliver?
Langkawi has waited centuries. It doesn’t need another storyteller. It needs a government that finally decides the curse has lasted long enough.
Mihar Dias (mihardias@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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