Thirty eight-year-old teacher Normala Sudirman will contest as PAS candidate in the Tenang by-election on Jan 30.PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang announced Normala's candidacy tonight at a Pakatan Rakyat rally in Labis, the main town in the Tenang constituency.
PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, DAP supremo leader Lim Kit Siang and other Pakatan leaders were also present at the rally to lend Normala their support.
Normala, who heads the PAS Labis muslimat (women's wing), has never contested in an election before.The mother of three is from Ledang, Johor, and is married to a fellow-teacher in Tenang. She graduated from the Tuanku Bainun teacher training college in Penang and was a remedial teacher at the Sekolah Kebangsaan LKTP Kemelah, Segamat, prior to her resignation. Normala had resigned her job recently in order to contest, as the election law forbids civil servants from running for election.
Forced to relocate venue
The announcement ceremony was held at a double storey shop lot that PAS is using as their operations centre. About 1,000 members of the public and Pakatan supporters, mostly from PAS clad in white kopiah, gathered on the roadside in front of the shop.
PAS was forced to relocate to the shop when the original location for the event, an empty plot of land across from the operations centre, was scuttled. This happened when the land owner was threatened and the permit eventually denied by the local council, Johor PAS information chief Mazlan Aliman told Malaysiakini.
Mazlan also confirmed reports that Normala's husband Makrof Abd Mutalib has received instructions to transfer to Johor Baru on short notice. "Initially the notice was sent to him, but it was retracted later," said Mazlan, adding that the notice was sent by the education department. Makrof has also confirmed the tranfer notice. When asked what the reasons for the transfer could be, Mazlan mused, "political reasons".
Women to dominate contest?
The rare choice of a female candidate is seen as a PAS move to gain the support of the Chinese voters who make up 39 percent of the rural Johor constituency. Her selection will hopefully counter the perception amongst the non-Muslims that PAS is a conservative Islamic party that discriminates against women.
The 5,635 Chinese voters in Tenang are seen as the key to reducing the BN majority, if not topple its candidate. Malay voters, the majority of whom reside in Felda settlements and Malay villages, are traditionally Umno supporters. Although slightly more than half of the Chinese voters had supported PAS in the last general election, it is believed that there is still room to shore up their Chinese support.
It is also possible that Umno will follow PAS' example, as the party's women's wing has been lobbying the central leadership to field Umno Labis Wanita chief Haslinda Salleh. Deputy Prime Minister and BN deputy chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin will announce the BN candidate this Wednesday.
Nomination day falls on Jan 22 while polling will take place on Jan 30.
source:malaysiakini
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