If the prospects are looking good for any candidate in Kuala Lumpur, it must be Lembah Pantai member of Parliament Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.

Not only did she manage to hold on to her prized constituency amid rumours of a possible shift to Putrajaya. She also saw off competition from a worthy opponent - jailed ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim's daughter Nurul Izzah who was earlier tipped as the contender for the seat.

To make matters rosier, PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat inadvertently provided her with the fodder to discredit her current opponent, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (Keadilan) vice-president Dr Sanusi Osman.

"Don't vote for him (Sanusi). He is not PAS and he is not Keadilan. He is a socialist. Even Nik Aziz does not want socialists," she told a voter while making a house-to-house visit at the railway workers' flats in Bangsar Utama yesterday.

(Sanusi is from Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) - a party accused of subscribing to a socialist ideology that has since merged with Keadilan. Its president Dr Syed Husin Ali was branded as a socialist by the PAS leader recently.)

The voter, who hailed from Kelantan, had framed pictures of both Nik Aziz and Shahrizat on the wall of her living room. No need to guess where the family votes were going.

"We have good vibes. Our campaign is clean and above board. We are work orientated and we are not interested in rhetoric.

"What this area needs is someone from the government to represent them. Someone who has a voice in the cabinet who can attend to their interests immediately. A lone voice cannot do much," she said in between greeting and shaking hands with her constituents.

Women's minister

From her track record, Shahrizat appeared to have won the approval of her voters. She may have won the Lembah Pantai seat twice in 1995 and 1999 - the second time with a marginal majority -but her opponents were no pushovers either.

In 1995, Shahrizat, a lawyer by training, made her electoral debut by defeating former lord president Salleh Abas, who was then running under the now-defunct Semangat 46 (S46) ticket, by more than 13,000 votes.

Salleh was and is still a symbol of the judiciary's glory days. He was sacked in 1988 following a leadership struggle in Umno between former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, who later went on to set up S46.

Caught in another political storm in 1999 over Mahathir's sacking of Anwar, Shahrizat fought a tough battle against the latter's high-profile lawyer Zainur Zakaria and emerged victorious with a slim 1,454 majority.

Partly as a reward and partly as a result of her efforts in raising the female profile in the government, Shahrizat was appointed the first minister of the new Ministry of Women and Family Development.

The women's groups may not be entirely satisfied with her work thus far, but it is undeniable that the setting up of a ministry for women has forced all political parties to take the female vote seriously.

Even PAS which has put forth all-male roll calls since 1978, broke its drought by fielding 10 women candidates in this general election.

"Women always had a place in BN. I don't remember a time when women were not well received. We have been highlighting women's issues and empowering women. I am keeping my fingers crossed for more women to be voted into Parliament this time," said Shahrizat.

Yet, the mother of three was emphatic in saying that her success in Lembah Pantai was not helped by her gender.

"As a woman, you have to work twice as hard to be thought half as good. I do not take my job lightly because I am conscious of the fact that I am the only woman wakil rakyat here. I cannot fail the party."

Gauging the voters

Indeed, Shahrizat seemed indefatigable. Although she had already walked down the corridors of six storeys and visited an average five households per level in the block, she was determined to continue in the same manner down the remaining 10 floors.

"We can't keep up with her," puffed accompanying Puteri Umno members.

On the result of her visit, Shahrizat reckoned that she had the support of 80 percent of the people whom she had met.

"After a while, you can gauge," she advised the Puteri Umno members.

"Those who are for BN will come straight out and tell you so. Those who are for the opposition will shake your hand but they will not look at you in the eye. You just tell them, try to support us-lah," she said.

Chairperson of the Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad flats residents' association Ishak Abdullah, who attended to Shahrizat during her rounds, said the railway workers should contribute about 1,000 votes to the Lembah Pantai tally. Taking a rough calculation, this would mean 800 votes in Shahrizat's pockets.

As for other constituents in similar income groups in the area, the MP said she was confident of winning their support as well.

"We have gotten very good deals for the squatters. You wouldn't believe it. They are given flats in the choicest pieces of land. What more do they want?

"So far, 20,000 people have been resettled. There is 10 percent more work to be done. One project, in particular, is nearing completion. We hope the voters will give me the mandate to finish the job," she said.

As for projects like the New Pantai Expressway which had attracted its fair share of criticism, she said the new links would only improve connections to the area.

"People who want to use the highway can do so. Those who don't can always take the alternative roads - there are many routes. They don't have to pay the toll if they don't want to," she said.

From her position, Shahrizat seemed unassailable. Even among opposition supporters in the Bangsar Baru area, there was grudging acknowledgment for the two-term MP.

"We want the opposition to win but she is very strong," said one resident.

A notoriously difficult constituency, Lembah Pantai comprises 53 percent Malays, 26 percent Chinese, 20 percent Indians and one percent voters from other ethnic groups.

Shahrizat's rival, Sanusi contested in a similar mixed constituency of Batu in the last general election. He lost to Gerakan MP Ng Lip Yong by 2,297 votes.