Straight BN-PAS fight in Permatang Pasir

BUKIT MERTAJAM, 17 Aug 2009: The Permatang Pasir state by-election will see a straight fight between the Barisan Nasional (BN) and PAS.

Rohaizat Othman, 38, is the BN candidate and Mohd Salleh Man Mat Aji, 52, better known as Salleh Man, is the PAS candidate.

Returning officer Roslan Yahaya announced the candidates after nominations closed at 11am. He said there were 15 objections but all were rejected.

Rohaizat Othman (Courtesy of
theSun)Rohaizat, an entrepreneur and a newcomer in elections, is the Permatang Pauh Umno division secretary.

Hailing from Mengkuang Titi, he holds a law degree from the International Islamic University and is actively involved in social work in Penanti and Permatang Pauh.

Salleh Man, who hails from Kepala Batas, has represented PAS six times in the general election since 1986 but lost in every one of them.

Salleh Man (Courtesy of theSun)A motivation expert, Kamarul Ramizu  Idris, 42, failed to submit his nomination form to contest as an independent candidate because he arrived late at the nomination centre at Dewan Perdana, National Youth Skills Institute in Jalan Berapit here.

“I was delayed by a traffic jam and when I got here, the hall was already closed, he said, adding, however, that he was not disappointed.

The Permatang Pasir seat fell vacant following the death of incumbent Datuk Mohd Hamdan Abdul Rahman of PAS from a heart ailment on 31 July.

Mohd Hamdan, who held the seat for three terms since 1999, garnered 11,004 votes to defeat Ahmad Sahar Shuib of the BN with a 5,433-vote majority in the general election last year.

Permatang Pasir has 20,290 registered voters — 72.34% Malay Malaysians, 25.86% Chinese Malaysians, 1.64% Indian Malaysians and 0.16% other Malaysians. — Bernama

Permatang Pasir March 2008 general election results
Candidates	Datuk Mohd Hamdan Abdul Rahman (PAS)	11,004
	Ahmad Sahar Shuib (Umno)	5,571
Majority		5,433
Voter turnout		82.57%

Source: Election Commission