PAS’ Halimah all fired up to wrest Seri Setia seat

PETALING JAYA: PAS’ Dr Halimah Ali is no stranger to local politics, being a former Selat Kelang assemblyman and exSelangor exco member.

After narrowly losing the Selat Kelang state seat to Selangor Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia chief Datuk Abdul Rashid Asari by only 500 votes in GE14, she is all the more determined to wrest the Seri Setia state seat for PAS.

For Dr Halimah, the threeweek campaign in urban Seri Setia is all about making inroads across different socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds.

While admitting that the extended campaign period was tiring, Dr Halimah said it was important to reach out to different voters in the constituency.

“Personally, it is tiring although the longer campaign enables us to reach out to all kinds of areas and to learn the terrain, especially after the redelineation exercise recently,” she told The Star.

Dr Halimah, 58, shared her experiences in reaching out to nonMalay voters in Seri Setia which she regarded as “good progress” for the Islamist party.

Dr Halimah was instrumental behind the creation of PAS’ multiracial “PAS for All” slogan, to address the public’s misconception that the party only served Muslim Malays.

Asked if a low voter turnout could be an issue in Seri Setia, she said that many voters were not as enthusiastic as they were for GE14.

“But, I’m hoping that because many issues have cropped up during Pakatan Harapan’s administration, it might be a trigger for a higher turnout, compared to the recently concluded Sungai Kandis byelection,” she added.

Voter turnout in the Sungai Kandis byelection on Aug 4 stood at was 49.8%.