MELAKA: Despite being 78 years old, Md Shariff A Bakar, who is a former teacher of Datuk Lim Ban Hong, is determined to help the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for the Tangga Batu parliamentary seat to recapture it for the coalition in the 15th General Election (GE15).
The former senior assistant teacher of SMK Tun Haji Abdul Malek, who retired 23 years ago, said he was also pleased to allow BN talks to be held at his home to help Lim win votes, especially in Kampung Cheng here.
“At this age, I shouldn’t be campaigning or getting involved in politics but since Lim is my student and the former prefect head of my school, there is no problem for me to help him.
“Tomorrow, the campaign to help Lim will be held at my house and I will be the speaker. This is how I can help him as his former teacher,“ he told reporters after Lim’s visit to his house here today.
Md Shariff said when Lim was appointed as the head prefect at the school in 1995, the latter had helped him a lot in various matters, especially involving student discipline.
He said the leadership characteristics of the Kelebang state assemblyman have been evident since the latter was in school, describing him as strict, fair, humble, and respectful to everyone, especially teachers, besides excelling in his studies.
“He was able to keep student discipline in check (in school), and in my opinion, he deserves to be a representative of the people in Tangga Batu even though the majority of voters here are Malays.
“Lim is also a friendly person, easy to get along with anyone, besides being fluent in Malay,“ he said.
Lim is the Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry and at the party level, he is the MCA vice president and chairman of the MCA Melaka Liaison Committee.
He faces a five-cornered contest in Tangga Batu involving the incumbent, Prof Madya Rusnah Aluai (PH-PKR); Lt Col (R) Ghazali Abu (GTA-Pejuang), Mohammmad Shahril Mahmood (Independent) and Bakri Jamaluddin (PN-PAS).
In GE14, the Tangga Batu parliamentary seat was won by Rusnah with a 4,659 vote majority, defeating Datuk Zali Mat Yasin (BN) and Zulkifli Ahmad (PAS). - Bernama
