anti-dap

Thursday, August 14, 2008

The Arif man vs Anwar


The by-ection in Permatang Pauh, which will see PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim vs Datuk Arif Shah, will be a costly affair as it covers both direct and indirect costs.

Both BN and Pakatan Rakyat will use their greatest strength to put up the show. On the rare BN practice, Seberang Jaya state assemblyman Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah is Barisan Nasional's choice to do battle with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat.

The BN seems to use Chinese card to win back the support of Chinese voters by putting Seberang Jaya assemblyperson Arif Shah Omar Shah to head on against PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim in the Aug 26 by-election.

Arif Shah, 52-year-old, a two-term UMNO state representative, who can speak fluent Mandarin, is the only UMNO representative breaking tradition to contest on both parliamentary and state seats although it is not the BN tradition.

The 52-year-old businessman, Arif Shah's ace in the sleeve is that, he is familiar with Anwar's political style, having served as Permatang Pauh Youth chief when Anwar headed the Umno division there.

He had multiracial and youthful appeal, well-liked beyond communal boundaries, are enterprising and untainted clean personality.

The are 58,459 voters, of which Malay 69.4%, Chinese 24.5%, Indian 6%, and others 0.1% and 490 are postal voters - as of July 31 at this constituency.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

can speak fluent Mandarin but sideline Chinese, what is the standing for non-bumi to enter UiTM?