Straight Fight between BN and PAS in Bagan Pinang

It is the best chance for BN to end the opposition's winning streak by fielding Mohd Isa Abdul Samad in Bagan Pinang by-election.

Mohd Isa Abdul Samad vs Zulkefly Mohamad Omar

By picking Isa, who is popular with the grassroots, Umno is seen as riding roughshod over public sentiment.

The high level of Malay support and large number of postal votes are the factors that dominate Umno to win the by-election.

The Bagan Pinang state by-election on Oct 11 will see a straight fight between Barisan BN and PAS.

BN is fielding former Menteri Besar Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad while PAS is represented by Zulkefly Mohamad Omar, the party's state commissioner.

Returning Officer Abdul Wahab Shamsuddin announced the contest at 11.25am after the objection period had ended.

Mohd Isa, 59, was the first to arrive at the nomination centre at Port Dickson Municipal Council hall at 9.05am, naming N. Kandiah as the proposer and Kaw Yoh See as the seconder.

About 10 minutes later, Zulkefly filed in his nomination papers, with Baharom Bujang as the proposer and Sarif Kasim as the seconder.

The seat fell vacant following the death of incumbent assemblyman Azman Mohammad Noor of BN on Sept 4. In the 2008 general election, Azman defeated PAS' Ramli Ismail with a majority of 2,333 votes.

There are 13,664 voters in Bagan Pinang, including 4,604 postal voters. The constituency has eight polling districts namely Pekan Siliau, Teluk Kemang, Ladang Atherton, Ladang Bradwall, Kampung Bagan Pinang, Taman Eastern, Sua Betong and Si Rusa.

PAS retains Permatang Pasir state seat

PAS has retained the Permatang Pasir state seat in the by-election today when its candidate, Mohd Salleh Man, 52, polled 9,618 votes to win by a majority of 4,551 votes.

Mohd Salleh Man

The Penang PAS commissioner beat Rohaizat Othman, 38, of the Barisan Nasional (BN) who garnered 5,067 votes in the straight fight.

Voter turnout was 73.1% of the 20,290-strong electorate compared 83% last year. There were 83 spoilt votes.

The constituency has 20,290 registered voters, comprising 72.36% Malays, 25.85% Chinese, 1.63% Indians and 0.16% others.

Straight fight between PAS state commissioner and UMNO Young Turk

The Permatang Pasir state by-election scheduled for 25 Ogos 2009 is a straight fight between PAS state commissioner Mohd Salleh Man, 55, and Young Turk Rohaizat Othman, 38, from Umno.

Rohaizar Othman

Rohaizat Othman, a 38-year-old lawyer, married with one son, is a law graduate from the International Islamic University (UIA).

Mohd Salleh

A graduate from Universiti Malaya, Mohd Salleh is self employed, previously having worked as a private school manager, a mosque official and an independent religious preacher.

The question remains: Does Rohaizat Othman have a chance of winning the Permatang Pasir seat?

Ironically, it does not ruled out the possibility of Rohaizat Othman winning the seat.

Although Permatang Pasir is a PAS stronghold, but it is believed that UMNO has certain effective strategies to undermine the opposition and winning the seat.

It is strongly believed that UMNO will play the development card as one of the main strategies other than the other effective strategies to win the heart and mind of the voters.

Ironically, development has often been left out in Permatang Pasir, and only BN can bring the area into the mainstream development programme.

The constituency has 20,290 voters and one postal vote, with 72.36 percent of the electorate being Malays, 25.85 percent Chinese, 1.63 percent Indians and 0.16 percent others. It has 300 new voters.

PAS state rep for Permatang Pasir Mohd Hamdan dies

Another by-election battle between UMNO and PAS looms in Penang.

The eighth by-election since March 2008 general election would have to be called in to fill the Permatang Pasir state seat vacancy in Penang.

Mohd Hamdan

PAS state assemblyman for Permatang Pasir Datuk Mohd Hamdan Abdul Rahman died of heart ailment at the National Heart Institute (IJN) in Kuala Lumpur.

The question arises : Will UMNO face another tough political battle?

The Permatang Pasir state seat is in the Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency which is held by Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

The sole PAS assemblyman in the Penang state, Mohd Hamdan, 63, the was the former state PAS commissioner for 14 years was the Permatang Pasir assemblyman for three terms from 1999.

Mohd Hamdan, a Kedahan retained the Permatang Pasir seat in the 2008 general election by garnering 11,004 votes to defeat the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate, Ahmad Sahar Shuib, who only garnered 5,571 votes.

The margin of victory was 5,433 votes.

Pas retains Manik Urai seat

PAS has retained the Manek Urai state seat by a wafer-thin margin of 65, or 0.61 per cent of votes cast.

The close win clearly showed Najib's good leadership despite the constituency being a PAS stronghold in a PAS-controlled state which PAS would have won a greater majority.

It also indicated Nik Aziz's influence was diminishing and the internal crisis of PAS.

Its candidate Mohd Fauzi Abdullah defeated Barisan Nasional's Tuan Aziz Tuan Mat with a majority vote of 65, in a by-election today.

Mohd Fauzi, 50, polled 5,348 votes while Tuan Aziz, 39, obtained 5,283 votes.

Dr Mansor won but with 46.15% historic low turnout

Dr. Mansor Othman won Penanti by-election with 5,558 majority, a whopping 6,052 out of the total of 7,100 votes and all three independents lost their deposits.

Only 7,100 people cast their votes in what is a historic low turnout - only 46.15 %. In the March 2008 general election, 82.13 % of the registered voters cast their ballots. There were a total of 15,384 registered voters in the constituency.

Nai Khan Ari, an independent who received just 494 votes while Aminah Abdullah took 392 votes. The final turn out today was 7,100 voters.

The reduced interest in voting is most likely due to BN supporters not coming out to vote in the by-election as BN is not contesting.

Nizar won with 2,789 vote majority

Ousted Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin won the Bukit Gantang parliamentary seat, beating Barisan Nasional candidate Ismail Saffian and independent Kamarul Rami-zu Idris.


The 52-year-old garnered 21,860 votes against Ismail's 19,071 while Kamarul only managed to secure 62 votes and lost his deposit.

Nizar's 2,789-vote majority over Ismail is almost double the majority obtained by former Pas Member of Parliament, the late Roslan Shah-rom, in last year's general election.

Roslan defeated BN candidate and Umno treasurer Datuk Seri Azim Zabidi with a 1,566-vote majority. The opposition managed to get 622 more votes compared with the 18,449 votes it secured in 2008 general election.

PAS, through Nizar, who was said to have banked on sympathy votes after the Barisan takeover of the state, improved its vote count by 1,845 compared with the general election votes.

Turnout was 75.1% or 41,626 of the total 55,562 registered voters, slightly higher than the 72.65% in 2008.

Voters are urged to cast their votes wisely and early

The simultaneous polling date for the Bukit Gantang parliamentary seat in Perak, the Bukit Selambau state assembly seat in Kedah and the Batang Ai seat in Sarawak are on April 7, 2009 respectively.

Any Malaysian citizens above 21 years old who register in the voters' registry with the Election Commission could vote in the by-elections.

The registered voters are reminding to bring their identification card to the polling stations.

Registered voters are urged to go to the designated voting centre early on April 7, 2009 to cast their ballot wisely for their chosen candidate.

Voters are urged to cast their votes early to avoid any inconvenience and beat the rush to the polls.

Mental Torture

Who is being responsible for the mental torture?

DAP-puppet PR MB Mohd. Nizar Jamaluddin

A political puppet is a representational figure manipulated by a puppeteer. Although one should not too into conspiracies but obviously PAS seems to be the latest political puppet of DAP as PAS desperately needs help and assistance from DAP.

The political-chaos in Perak shown that former Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin is the puppet of DAP. Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin and his administration seem had been dominated by DAP.

It is the authoritarian ways of the Ngeh-Nga cousins – Perak DAP chief Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham and state DAP secretary Nga Kor Ming of pulling the strings from behind with Nizar as the puppet.

Ironically, it is always claimed that the DAP had dominated all decisions made in the state executive council, although Nizar rubbished the claims that the Ngeh-Nga cousins, namely DAP’s Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham and Nga Kor Ming, both former exco members had been forcing their views upon the others during the council meetings.

It has been the DAP that dictating all the decisions of the Perak state government.

For example, the decision to administer freehold titles to the new and planned villages in the state. The former PR Perak state government had approved 1,000 ha of land to nine Chinese independent schools but only approved an initial allocation of RM1.3 million to the 18 religious schools which were in deplorable state.

Undeniably, Perak DAP Chairman Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham mooted the idea of fielding of Nizar as the candidate for Bukit Gantang.

Although Pas spiritual leader Nik Aziz originally questioned the decision of fielding Nizar as the candidate in the Bukit Gantang by-election but suddenly made a u-turn and changes the decision to turn down his own decision by giving his blessing.

15 candidates for Bukit Selambau by-election

The Bukit Selambau by-election will be fought by 15 candidates, the biggest field of candidates ever for a by-election in the country's 51 year history.



State Election Commission (EC) director Zainal Abidin Zakaria said the 13 comprising 11 independents, the Barisan Nasional (BN) and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) would make the by-election the most crowded ever.

He said the highest number of candidates ever to contest a parliamentary or state seat was eight.

The many candidates mean that the ballot paper could come in A4 size paper to fit the party symbols and those picked by independent candidates.

A normal ballot paper is usually pocket-sized and is folded into two to fit the ballot box.

At the close of nomination at noon both coalitions, the Barisan Nasional and the Pakatan Rakyat found themselves having to grapple with 13 Independent candidates for the April 7 by-elections.

The independents are: Husaini Yaacob, T. Chandraajan, Mejar (Rtd) Anuar Abdul Hamid, Vaneson Michael, Abdul Rahim Abu, S. Moganakumar, Mohd Fadzil Abdul Wahab, Md Radzi Md Lazim, Loganathan Ramanathan, Saralaloganathan, Tan Hock Huat and A.Jayagopal, Khamis Awang.

Straight fight in Batang Ai

The Batang Ai state by-election on April 7 is a straight fight between Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat-PKR. BN newcomer Malcom Mussem Lamoh, 49, will face PKR’s Jawah Gerang, 55, a five-term former Lubok Antu MP.


Malcom Mussem Lamoh

About 40% of the 22,270 Batang Ai residents from 238 longhouses and 15 houses rely on boats as the mode of transport. There are 8,600 registered voters, comprising 95% Ibans in the 1,341 sq km constituency where 24 polling centres will be opened.

Jawah Gerang

The seat fell vacant following the death of four-term BN incumbent Datuk Dublin Unting Ingkot, who was Sarawak agriculture and sports assistant minister and Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) vice-president on Feb 24.

Mussen, an Iban, is the candidate proposed by BN component Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and endorsed by the state BN. Born in Engkilili, Mussen, 50, holds a Masters in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from the University Of Warwick, UK, and has been an engineer with the agriculture department since 1984.