NEWCOMER Wan Saiful Wan Jan may face an uphill task convincing Pendang voters to vote for Pakatan Harapan in the 14th general election due to the strong presence of Barisan Nasional and PAS in the rural constituency.

Voters in Tanah Merah, a town within the Tokai state constituency, told Malaysia Decides they were sceptical of the Bersatu candidate’s chances of winning, as BN and PAS each had a strong following in the constituency.

“Pendang has always been about BN or PAS. We know some Umno members here have defected to Bersatu because they are mostly Dr Mahathir Mohamad supporters and this may cause Othman Abdul to lose.

“But this is also a PAS stronghold, especially here in Tokai,” Azman, 46, said.

This was evident as the roads leading to the town were festooned with lines BN and PAS flags only occasionally broken up by a PKR logo. BN lynchpin party, Umno and PAS are the two parties known to have a large support team on the ground at election time.

In 2013, PAS won the Tokai state seat by 5,833 votes while BN secured Sungai Tiang with a majority of 6,994 votes.

Pendang incumbent Othman Abdul defeated then PAS leader Mohamad Sabu by 2,638 votes to take the parliamentary seat.

In 1999, Othman had lost the seat to the late PAS president Fadzil Noor, who won by 2,939 votes. Othman then won the seat back in the by-election following the death of Fadzil in 2002.

“I think it will be hard for Wan Saiful to win. Not many people here know him, maybe he needs to frequent mosques in this area more often, like Awang Hashim,” 63-year-old Mokhtar Ismail said, referring to the PAS candidate for Pendang.

Laksa seller Muhamad Hasnizan, 36, said Othman had a heavy presence in the parliamentary seat due to his involvement in community activities.

“I’m not sure if Wan Saiful has enough time to introduce himself to Pendang voters; because candidates like Othman and Awang have been on the ground even before the election was called,” he said.

Wan Saiful, former CEO of Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs, will face incumbent Othman, PAS’ Awang and independent candidate Abdul Malik Abdul Manaf in a four-cornered fight. – April 30, 2018.