GE14: Four-cornered fight awaits Johor MB for Pasir Gudang, Permas
JOHOR BAHRU, April 28 (Bernama) -- The Pasir Gudang parliamentary seat, which is among the hot seats in Johor in the 14th general election (GE14) will witness a four-cornered fight among the BN, PKR, PAS and an Independent.
Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, who is the BN candidate, is being challenged by State PKR chairman Hassan Abdul Karim, 67; Ab Aziz Abdullah, 49, of PAS and former Johor Bahru DAP chairman Chee Jock, 74, who is contesting as an Independent candidate.
Their nominations were confirmed by Pasir Gudang Returning officer Hasrin Kamal Hashim at the nomination centre at the Pasir Gudang Municipal Council Indoor Stadium at 11 am.
Chee Jock was the earliest to submit his nomination papers, at 9.02 am, followed by Hassan, Mohamed Khaled and Ab Aziz.
Mohamed Khaled, 60, arrived at the centre with his wife, Datin Seri Rosni Omar, daughter-in-law Noor Shamiza Sayuti and about 500 supporters at 8.20 am.
The Pasir Gudang parliamentary constituency has been a BN stronghold with the seat won by BN candidate Normala Abdul Samad in the last general election. She defeated PKR's Ahmad Faidhi Saidi with a majority of 935 votes.
However, Normala's name has been dropped in this general election and replaced by Mohamed Khaled, who is contesting the seat for the third time.
Mohamed Khaled contested the seat for the first time in the 11th general election and won with a majority of 31,121 votes against against A. Razak Ahmad of PKR, and in the 12th general election, defended the seat by winning a majority of 17,281 votes against Md Rizan Mohd Saman, also of PKR.
The Pasir Gudang parliamentary constituency has 124,172 Malay voters, Chinese (45,980), Indian (12,933), Sabah bumiputera (1,664), Sarawak bumiputera (1,748), Orang Asli (94) and others (1,007).
Meanwhile, Mohamed Khaled is also defending the Permas state seat for the second term since winning it in the last general election. It will also be a four-cornered fight for him.
His contenders for the state seat include businessman Datuk Che Zakaria Mohd Salleh, 57, who is Parit Sulong PPBM leader.
The other two are Ab Aziz, of PAS, who is also contesting the Pasir Gudang parliamentary seat, and an Independent candidate, Rohani Yaacob, 34.
For the Johor Jaya state seat, BN candidate Datuk Tan Cher Puk, 57, will again face Liow Cai Tung, 32, of DAP, in a three-cornered fight.
The other candidate is PAS Supporters Club Women leader R Kumutha, 39. She is the only non-Muslim candidate contesting on PAS ticket in Johor.
Tan, who is Pasir Gudang MCA division leader, was the assemblyman for two terms after winning the seat in the 11th and 12th general election, but lost the seat to Liow in the last general election.
Tan obtained 21,419 votes, while Liow garnered 22,879 votes.
-- BERNAMA
