BN's Mohd Zaidi ready to face Nurul Izzah in Permatang Pauh

GEORGE TOWN: The BN candidate for the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat, Datuk Mohd Zaidi Mohd Said said it was time for a change of direction by the residents as Permatang Pauh was now lagging behind in development.
Mohd Zaidi, 49, who is the Permatang Pauh UMNO division leader, said that if he was elected, a lot of things could be done to develop the region which has long been under the PKR.
Coming face to face with PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar and Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden of PAS in the 14th General Election (GE14), Mohd Zaidi, 49, said he was not one bit nervous, he was confident of giving his rivals a run for their money based on his long track record of serving the people in Permatang Pauh .
"Pakatan Harapan (PH) can no longer rely on their strength after the reformation era because this is the first time they will be opposed by PAS.
"Before this, we had problems because the BN machinery could not go into some areas but the situation changed when the people accepted our presence during programmes... for me this was a good sign," he said when met after handing over the Penang BN candidacy letter for the GE14 here today, which was attended by about 1,500 BN supporters.
He said his intention was to improve the quality of education, improve public facilities, mosques, surau and create health consciousness among young people with the construction of recreation centres and game courts as well as focus more on entrepreneurship development.
The Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat was previously represented by PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail who defeated Suhaimi Sabudin (BN-UMNO) with a majority of 8,841 votes in the by-election in May 2015.
Meanwhile, the new face for the Telok Ayer Tawar state seat, Zambri Che Ros, was determined to continue the development brought by Penang state assembly opposition leader Datuk Jahara Hamid, who has opted not to contest in GE14.
Zambri, who is Tasek Gelugor UMNO division secretary, said his candidacy in the region was a challenge as the Teluk Air Tawar state seat was previously represented by women representatives.
"Datuk Jahara has been Teluk Air Tawar assemblyman for five terms since 1999 and before Jahara, the constituency was also represented by a female representative," he said.
In GE14, Zambri is expected to face Mohamad Hanif Haron (PAS), Lee Thian Hong (PRM) and Mustafa Kamal Ahmad (PKR). In the 13th General Election, BN won the Telok Ayer Tawar state seat when Jahara defeated Norhayati Jaafar (PAS) with a majority of 840 votes. — Bernama