Sungai Limau polls a baptism of fire for Mukhriz Mahathir

ARCHIVES 2013

By admin-s On Nov 4, 2013

(TMI) – A win, or even a dent to PAS’s majority by Barisan Nasional (BN) in this Islamist party stronghold, will burnish the Kedah Menteri Besar’s political credentials as a BN and Umno leader.

Today’s Sungai Limau by-election will be a baptism of fire for Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir.

A win, or even a dent to PAS’s majority by Barisan Nasional (BN) in this Islamist party stronghold, will burnish the Kedah Menteri Besar’s political credentials as a BN and Umno leader.

This is especially so since the 49-year-old needs to overcome his recent defeat at the Umno polls where he narrowly lost his bid for the vice-presidency by 10 votes.

“If BN wins, it will definitely break the psychology barrier and Mukhriz will definitely be praised for it.

“Personally I think it is important for Mukhriz to ensure he can improve on BN’s performance not only to boost his image as the MB, but to show something to his supporters, especially after his Umno defeat,” UiTM Associate Professor Shaharuddin Badaruddin told The Malaysian Insider.

Voting began at 8am and the final results will be known by 9pm today.

Mukhriz had been working overtime to woo the 27,222 voters in Sungai Limau since the seat became vacant on September 26 following the death of former Kedah menteri besar Tan Sri Azizan Razak.

The Sungai Limau seat, located in the Jerai parliamentary constituency, is a PAS stronghold. The Islamist party has held it for five terms since 1995.

The son of former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad surprised and won the admiration of people, including his own team of advisers, by spending the night sleeping on the floor of a house belonging to a fisherman in Kampung Seberang Tandop. The village is well known for being a hardcore PAS area.

The soft-spoken Mukhriz had also pledged to be Sungai Limau’s adopted assemblyman if BN wins this rural seat where the majority of its residents are paddy farmers and fishermen.

This was in line with PAS’s slogan of “kekal” (retain), where the electorate of Sungai Limau were still diligently served by Azizan even after he was appointed as menteri besar after the 2008 general election.