Merlimau polls: PAS man stays upbeat

Despite being labelled a 'liar', PAS' Merlimau candidate Yuhaizad Abdullah is confident that 'things will change before polling day'

MERLIMAU: Four days into the by-election campaign in Merlimau, PAS is still having trouble breaking into Umno-Barisan Nasional (BN) strongholds.
Its candidate, Yuhaizad Abdullah who is already weighed down by allegations that he lied about his diploma, can’t seem to go beyond a ‘few houses in Kg Ayer Tawar, Kg Chin Chin, and Merlimau Pasir.’
“The rest are all Umno-BN supporters,” said Yuhaizad while on his meet-the-people rounds yesterday.
He thinks its still too early to say that PAS has failed to gain votes in the Malay villages.
“We will slowly break into some of the BN strongholds. I am confident things will change before polling day,” Yuhaizad added.
His confidence is comforting especially since there are billboards and posters around Merlimau (including at the local cemetry) screaming “PAS is a liar.”
BN is rumoured to be behind the allegations that Yuhaizad, 38, had lied about his education and that he was merely an SPM-holder and not a graduate with a diploma in Islamic Tasawwur as professed.
BN is also allegedly behind the flood of pornograhic leaftlets floating around Merlimau.
The leaflets contain faces of Pakatan Rakyat leaders Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng, Abdul Hadi Awang and Nik Aziz super-imposed on visuals of naked women.
Federal, state resources
Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, when asked about the leaflets yesterday, denied any knowledge and instead accused PAS of scheming the flyers to gain votes.
Muhyiddin and Malacca Chief Minister Mohd Ali Rustam are almost fixtures here.
Pitching together federal and state resources, they’ve given BN candidate Roslan Ahmad, 44, a guaranteed ride to the top.
What is infact clear is that Roslan is comfortably riding on the shoulders of Muhyiddin and Rustam.
At a ceremony in Kampung Chin Chin yesterday, both the federal and state leaders did not even bother to introduce Roslan as the candidate.
Muhyiddin seemed intent on wooing Chin Chin residents with his own credibility as a deputy prime minister with scant regard to who and what Roslan was all about.
Incidentally, Kampung Chin Chin yesterday was ‘flooded’ with goverment workers, police and supporters of BN and Muhyiddin.
Roslan appeared tired, listless and content to let the leaders do the wooing. It was indeed a discomforting thought for some Chin Chin voters.
Journalists doing the campaign rounds here said its a similar scenario elswhere.
The Merlimau polls, which is set for March 6, is the 15th by-election since the 2008 general election.
It sees a straight fight between Roslan (BN) and Yuhaizad (PAS) with BN hoping to increase its previous majority of 2,400 votes.
The by-election is being held following the death of BN assemblyman Mohamad Hidhir Abu Hassan on Jan 20.