JOHOR BARU: The parliamentary by-election in Pulai will be the seventh polls for Pakatan Harapan’s Suhaizan Kaiat.
The 50-year-old said he was thankful for the support given to him by the Pakatan and Barisan Nasional leadership and their supporters, who accompanied him to the nomination centre at Dewan Jubli Intan Sultan Ibrahim here yesterday.
“I am more enthusiastic and confident that my seventh attempt will end in victory; we will work harder to try and get a victory with a convincing majority.
“The consensus between Pakatan and Barisan is strong. This is the first time in the history of Johor that two major political coalitions are working together to face a by-election.
“I am quite confident that it will be translated into votes on polling day on Sept 9,” he added.
Suhaizan’s opponent, Perikatan Nasional candidate Zulkifli Jaafar, 50, said the people in Pulai needed someone who can bring changes and development to the area.
The Pulai Bersatu deputy chief said he would use his advantage of being a local to win over voters.
“I am constantly meeting with the people of the constituency and some of the issues that I would like to bring up during this campaign period are the economy and their welfare.
“Our election machinery is well prepared and we are ready to go down and meet the people in the area,” he said.
In MUAR, Simpang Jeram by-election candidates are banking on their track record of serving the people.
Perikatan’s Dr Mazri Yahya, 54, who is contesting the seat for the second time, said that as a doctor, he meets and treats people from all walks of life.
“I believe that we have a significantly better chance of winning this time as the mood is very different compared with the 14th General Election (GE14 in 2018).
“The main issue that largely affected GE14 was disappointment in (then premier) Datuk Seri Najib Razak, and many wanted to give Pakatan a chance because of it.“That is no longer the case. Now, we are seeing the ‘Perikatan wave’ as eviden in the recently concluded state elections,” he said.
Pakatan’s candidate Nazri Abdul Rahman, 56, said he had served the people of Simpang Jeram for 30 years as an engineer at the Muar Municipal Council.
“I have a close bond with the people here whom I treat as my friends and family,” he said, adding that Simpang Jeram was one of the nine state seats Amanah won in GE14, the first time the party contested in Johor.
However, in the Johor state election last year, the party lost eight seats – with Simpang Jeram being the only one it held on to.
He said that the seat was very important for Amanah and it would be working hard to make sure it does not fall.
Both Pulai and Simpang Jeram by-elections would be seeing three-cornered fights, with two Independent candidates – Samsudin Mohamad Fauzi and S. Jeganathan respectively – rounding up the cast.
