Hang Tuah Jaya main battleground in Malacca

MALACCA: The Hang Tuah Jaya parliamentary seat, or Bukit Katil previously, remains the main battleground in Malacca in the 14th General Election (GE14) with two foes squaring off again and an opposition drama on nomination day today.
Former MalaccaChief Minister Tan Sri Mohd Ali Rustam, representing BN, and PKR vice-president Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin will be repeating their GE13 duel, which witnessed Mohd Ali beaten by a majority of 5,447 votes, but the fight this time will be very much different.
In the past five years, the voters in the parliamentary seat claimed that Shamsul Iskandar had failed to look after their welfare which was shouldered by Mohd Ali who did not sulk despite not being elected but remained consistent going down to the ground to solve problems and to channel aid to the people in the area.
Shamsul Iskandar would also be contesting the Rim state seat prompting Mohd Ali to sarcastically remark "planning to take a second wife despite not being able to look after the first one properly", questioning how his nemesis could take care of the two areas while the responsibility to take care of one area before was not done properly.
Apart from Mohd Ali and Shamsul Iskandar, PAS candidate Dr Md Khalid Kassim, who is the incumbent for the Bukit Baru state seat, before being shifted to Bukit Katil, complements the three-cornered Hang Tuah Jaya parliamentary seat fight.
An opposition pact drama coloured the Hang Tuah Jaya parliamentary seat when one of its state seats, Ayer Molek saw the Hang Tuah Jaya PPBM Division vice-chairman Prof Dr Kamarolzaman Mohd Jidi becoming an independent candidate.
Kamarolzaman was clearly angry when his efforts with the PPBM Hang Tuah Jaya machinery had convinced the Ayer Molek constituents to vote for the opposition pact but was reneged upon by the party's leadership which decided to release the seat to PKR.
He said after his effort had borne fruit and the pact could win the seat (in GE14), the parties in the coalition began jostling for seats causing the seat to fall into the hands of PKR, which nominated Farhan Ibrahim resulting in a four-cornered fight with Rahmad Mariman (BN) and Jantan Abdullah (PAS).
In addition to the parliamentary constituency, the Masjid Tanah Parliamentary seat also witnesses a clash between two legal practitioners, namely Puteri Umno chief Mas Ermieyati Samsudin, who is a lawyer, who will be facing PKR candidate, former High Court Judge Datuk Dr Sabirin Ja'afar.
PAS candidate ex-lecturer Mohd Nasir Othman completes a three-cornered fight in the area and Mas Ermieyati was the first woman from BN to contest the parliamentary seat in the state in the previous election.
It is also interesting to note that Mas Ermieyati and Sabirin are related and of Minang descent, who prioritise family ties.
However, caretaker Malacca Chief minister Datuk Seri Idris Haron is not expected to face many problems in the sole one-on-one fight in the state with Mohd Lokman Abd Ghani from PKR, to defend the Sungai Udang state seat which he won with a 9,136 majority in GE13.
But when met by reporters, Idris refused to crow about the situation but instead saw the straight fight as not an easy one and that he would try hard to win the hearts of voters in the area.
However, if viewed carefully, the candidates under the opposition pact are not known to the people in the state, in contrast to names like Mohd Ali and Datuk Dr Abu Bakar Mohamad Diah in the Paya Rumput constituency who are known throughout Malacca.
In addition, Idris is also known as a Chief Minister who had brought prolific development and RM22.5 billion investments to the state, not forgetting Mas Ermieyati who is synonymous with the development of young women in the country. Who does Pakatan have? Shamsul Iskandar?
With a strong line-up of candidates and a pledge under the BN Melaka Manifesto with the theme "Together to Create Excellence" which focuses on the continuity of progress and prosperity in the subsequent term, victory for the Melaka BN candidates in GE14 is now increasingly evident on the horizon. — Bernama