Seat ‘safely’ in PAS’ pocket
Permatang Pasir is one of the three state seats in the Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency held by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the sole PAS state seat in Penang which was won by the late Mohd Hamdan for three terms since 1999.
Written by Regina William, The Edge
It was a sweltering day last Friday, but that did not deter a group of makcik ("aunties") in a village in Permatang Pasir from gathering for their usual afternoon chat under a tree.
A few of them had toddlers on their laps while a couple of teenagers were also in the group, sitting on wooden benches which had seen better days.
Hardly a few hundred metres away, the main Permatang Pasir road was chock-a-block with traffic, but the villagers were oblivious to what was going on around the corner.
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had just finished his Friday prayers at the mosque nearby and was having lunch with the villagers — but for these makcik, it was no big deal.
Life has remained much the same over the past week since nomination day.
When asked what they thought of the by-election and all the brouhaha, what with the revelations about Barisan Nasional's (BN) Rohaizat Othman and also PAS' Mohd Salleh Man, their response was almost nonchalant.
"Biasalah, kita tak ambil tahu semua tu ("That is normal, we do not bother about those things")," said one of the makcik, who was very vocal about her thoughts.
She continued in Malay: "As far as we are concerned, there is a by-election but we are not interested in their bickering. We miss the previous state assemblyman, Hamdan (the late Datuk Mohd Hamdan Abdul Rahman) as he was a very good man.
"He would help anyone, regardless of their political affiliations.
"We all know who supports which political party here, but he never bothered about that at all, unlike some politicians who would only give their own supporters any help, without a thought for others.
"He was always there for us ever since he became our state assemblyman and we are hoping that someone like him is voted in again."
"We want someone who can help us when we are in need, even any time of the night, if someone was sick or needed help, Hamdan was always there for us," said Che Jah, who looked like the most senior of all the women there.
Their sentiments are perhaps echoed by a large segment of the 72% Malays in the constituency.
They have had a service-oriented state assemblyman, whom they all had great regards for, and they just want the same again.
It is the wish of kampung folk, for whom the slandering, name-calling and character assassination have no bearing.
Permatang Pasir is one of the three state seats in the Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency held by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the sole PAS state seat in Penang which was won by the late Mohd Hamdan for three terms since 1999.
In the last general election, Mohd Hamdan secured 11,004 votes to defeat Barisan's Ahmad Sahar Shuib by a 5,433-vote majority.
The Permatang Pasir constituency has 20,290 voters, including one postal voter, comprising Malay (72.36%), Chinese (25.85%), Indian (1.63%) and others (0.16%).
There are some among the voters in this remote part of the Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency who are watching the daily "dramas" of the BN and PAS fighting tooth and nail to convince the voters to back their respective candidates.
These are the fence-sitters, who usually leave it to the last minute, to decide which way to vote.
The tide of the by-election could also be swung by the younger group aged between 21 and 40, who form 40% of the electorate and are IT-literate, having access to blogs and other websites, which paint a different scenario about the by-election as opposed to the mainstream media organisations.
For them, the allegations against Rohaizat, who was struck off the roll by the Bar Council for personal misconduct for using client's money, is something to ponder about.
Coupled with the fact that BN's accusations that his partner Yusri Isahak was responsible for taking RM161,000 of their client's money, which the latter later came out to refute, would be a crucial deciding factor.
PAS has kept up the momentum against Rohaizat, with another case against the BN candidate which was also raised with the Bar Council being exposed.
The case was however not pursued by the Bar Council, as the complaint was received after Rohaizat was disbarred.
Also, allegations of him neglecting a "second" wife have been making the rounds, but they have been vehemently denied by Rohaizat.
As PAS has played up this issue to the hilt, the issue of credibility and morality is something that this group would take into consideration.
As for the Chinese voters who are mostly businessmen and small farmers, the issue of Teoh Beng Hock was even bigger than the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal, which most did not care too much about.
Just when they were getting comfortable with BN after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak took over the helm in April with his 1Malaysia motto for all, Teoh's death has created even more doubts in their minds.
The beer issue and other national issues concerning the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) seem to have little bearing on them.
Many who were interviewed felt that the BN has yet to learn its lesson, and some who knew about Rohaizat being disbarred were also not happy with the increasing number of allegations against him.
The Indians, with around 350 voters, are still in their anti-BN mood, and their votes would still go to PAS.
In fact, many observers feel that this time around, even though BN could have swung more votes to its side, after its performance in Manek Urai almost reducing PAS to its knees with a 65-vote majority, BN's failure to "screen" Rohaizat before fielding him, would prove detrimental.
BN leaders, who had earlier defended Rohaizat against being disbarred, have now refused to comment, saying it was a personal matter which should not be highlighted during the by-election.
In a nutshell, the BN is handing over this by-election on a platter to PAS, and it will be interesting to see the majority of votes garnered.
Being a working day, voter turnout might be lower and many residing out of town would not make it back.
Apart from this which could reduce PAS' majority, the seat is PAS' for the taking, even though BN leaders remain bravely optimistic and have refused to throw in the towel in Permatang Pasir.
