Merlimau: Battle for the Malay vote begins

The Merlimau by-election will be a straight fight between BN's Roslan Ahmad and PAS' Yuhaizad Abdullah.

The announcement was made by Roslan Eusoff at about 11.20am today, after the objection period ended at 11am amid speculation that one of the candidates would be disqualified.

The announcement was met with BN supporters chanting "1Malaysia" and "DUNku sayang" (My beloved DUN), while PAS supporters chanted "Allahu akbar" and "Hidup Rakyat".

The returning officer said he received three objections.

Speaking to reporters later PAS secretary general Mustafa Ali said that PAS had filed an objection as Roslan Ahmad did not produce a resignation letter from his position as business development manager in the government-linked Melaka Corporation Berhad.

The BN subsequently produced the letter, that had already been submitted to the GLC.

BN objected on the grounds of Yuhaizad's Jasin home address being outside of the Merlimau constituency, but it was rejected as the address was still in is Malacca and hence not an issue.

The ruling party raised a second objection over their opponent’s voter registration, but this too was turned down.

Malacca first for PAS

PAS candidate Yuhaizad, 38, who was ushered into the nomination letter at 9am by more than 3,000 supporters, told the crowd candidly that he cannot make any election promises as he is not part of the ruling coalition.

Asked of his message to voters, the Merlimau native simply said, "The people are in my heart...I am optimistic that the time has come for us to snatch this seat from BN."

If he wins, he will be the only PAS assemblyperson in the Malacca state assembly, that currently has five DAP representatives.

His supporters, who filled up about 200 metres of the four-lane road in front of the nomination centre, had camped in the sun until his candidacy was announced at about 11.20pm. They were there since dawn.

BN supporters on the other hand had started dispersing about an hour earlier, having started gathering at about 7.30am.  

When approached by reporters, BN candidate Roslan Ahmad (centre in photo), 44, said that he will not shy from using his pedigree to his advantage.

"I don't mind, however, I have my own capabilities," he said, adding that he is confident that BN, including the unsuccessful shortlisted candidates who had earlier threatened a boycott, are 100 percent behind him.

The Jasin Umno committee member's late father, Ahmad Ithnin was Sungai Rambai (now delineated into Merlimau) assemblyperson while his uncle Abu Bakar Isnin was once Malacca chief minister.

BN after morale booster

Earlier, Umno vice president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who had joined the crowd of about 2,500 colourfully dressed BN supporters, said that the coalition is seeking to increase its 2008 winning majority of about 2,000, that was a marked drop from more than 5,000 in 2004.

MCA youth chief Wee Ka Siong trumpeted optimism citing BN’s recent string of by-election victories.

"This victory will be an endorsement for chief minister Mohd Ali Rustam, as it shows that the voters appreciate the rapid development in Malacca," he said.

Met by Malaysiakini at the BN tent outside the nomination centre, Mohd Ali said Pakatan Rakyat must be "walking blind" to claim that the Malacca government is only just throwing projects Merlimau's way because of the by-election.

"The Tamil school was requested by the people and was part of the 10th Malaysia Plan, the roads were paved as we always do in the beginning of every year. If PAS doesn't want to use those roads they're welcome to go through the bushes," he said.

On Pakatan Rakyat's side, PKR's Xavier Jeyakumar said that it will be an "uphill battle" for them as even the simplest things like renting a shoplot for their operations room have been met with fierce resistance by local BN stalwart supporters.

Regime change threatens only Umno

However, former Perak MB Nizar Jamaluddin of PAS is upbeat about the outcome, saying that his time in the more rural parts of the constituency yesterday revealed that the electorate were now better informed about issues.

"They were asking about federal issues, which is an advantage for Pakatan," he said.

PAS intends to champion a combination of local, national and international issues in their campaign, that will concentrate mostly on the 64.9 percent Malay voters.

"Many of them are afraid to vote Pakatan because Umno has scared them into thinking that the Chinese will take over if Pakatan becomes the government, and the position of Malays will be threatened," said DAP youth chief Anthony Loke.

To tackle this, said Loke, DAP is going into the Malay kampungs with PAS to desensitise the Malay voters to the BN scare tactic, and reassure the Malay heartlanders that "only people who will be threatened by a regime change is Umno".

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