BUKIT MERTAJAM, Nov 7 — Two of the contenders in Permatang Pauh in the 15th General Election (GE15), Datuk Mohd Zaidi Mohd Said of Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) Nurul Izzah Anwar Izzah Anwar, have different missions to win the parliamentary seat.
For Mohd Zaidi, he wants to win the seat to address development issues in the constituency, while Nurul Izzah wants to continue to serve the constituents there.
Mohd Zaidi said he will highlight issues and problems plaguing the electorates in Permatang Pauh. as infrastructure facilities, like roads, schools and houses for the poor, are still lacking.
“These issues will be the focus of my campaign strategy and this is what we are offering the Permatang Pauh community. For the past 23 years, there has been not much change, development here seems to have stalled.
“A change is needed so that these issues can be resolved,” he said.
He said BN and PH are ‘playing’ on a level field as both parties have been in the government and as an opposition.
To some extent, it helps BN to come up with a new strategy for GE15, he added.
The contest for the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat will witness a four-cornered fight between Mohd Zaidi, 54, Nurul Izzah, 42, Muhammad Fawwaz Mat Jan, 39, of Perikatan Nasional (PN) and Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) candidate, Mohd Nasir Othman, 64.
As for Nurul Izzah, she is defending the seat to enable her to bring more changes to the country.
Her concern, she said, is the welfare of the people, which requires her to make improvements and changes.
“Among my commitments is to solve the problems of the 20 percent of students in the country who are still illiterate. This matter can only be resolved at the national level,” she said.
In GE14, Nurul Izzah, who is PKR vice-president, won the seat by securing 35,534 votes. She defeated BN and PAS candidates in the three-cornered contest with a majority of 15,668 votes.
