THREE-CORNERED FIGHTS IN MELAKA
PKR’s Shamsul Iskandar going up against former CM Ali Rustam
ONCE again, the Hang Tuah Jaya parliamentary seat will see Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin (PKR) going up against Melaka’s former chief minister, Tan Sri Mohd Ali Rustam (Barisan Nasional) in the 14th General Election (GE14).
Besides Ali and Shamsul Iskandar, also vying for the seat is former Bukit Baru (now Bukit Katil) state assemblyman Dr Md Khalid Kassim.
Questions about PKR vicepresident Shamsul Iskandar’s whereabouts were raised when he failed to turn up at the nomination centre at the Melaka International Trade Centre (MiTC) in Ayer Keroh.
However, Shamsul
Iskandar, who won the parliamentary seat in Hang Tuah Jaya (formerly Bukit Katil) in the last election, “showed up” through a representative of the party, Mahani Masban, who submitted all the documents for his nomination.
A three-cornered fight is expected for the Masjid Tanah parliamentary seat. Exlawyer and Masjid Tanah state assemblyman and head of Puteri Umno Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin will be up against Datuk Sabirin Jaafar of PKR, a former High Court judge.
The “fight” also sees Pas candidate and lecturer Mohd Nasir Othman vying for the same seat.
Melaka chief minister Datuk Seri Idris Haron will face PKR candidate Mohd Lokman Abdul Ghani at the Sungai Udang state seat. Idris won the seat in the last general election.
Datuk Seri Ahmad Hamzah, who has served the Jasin parliamentary seat for five terms, will defend his seat against two challengers — Datuk Seri Khairuddin Abu Hassan (PKR) and Abd Alim Shapie (Pas).
Over at Kota Melaka, the constituency will see a three-cornered fight between BN’s Choo Wei Sern, former Ayer Keroh assemblyman, Khoo Poay Tiong (PKR) and former Melaka DAP chief Goh Leong San, who will contest as an independent candidate. Goh, a former Duyong state assemblyman, is also contesting the Kesidang parliamentary seat.
In Duyong, a four-cornered fight is expected between Kim Kian Lek (BN), Kamarudin Sedik (Pas), Damien Yeo Shen Li (PKR) and former Bachang state assemblyman, Lim Jak Wong, who is an independent candidate.
Former Tangga Batu member of parliament Datuk Dr Abu Bakar Mohamad Diah will contest in Paya Rumput. He will go against former Umno Youth leader Mohd Rafiq Naizamohideen (PKR) and Rafie Ahmad (Pas).
The 14th General Election in Melaka will see 103 candidates contesting under four parties, compared with 71 in the last general election.
Of the total, 31 will face off in the three-cornered fights, while two in four-cornered fights and one in a straight fight.
BN and PKR is up for six parliamentary seats and 28 state seats, while Pas will contest five parliamentary seats and 24 state seats. Independent candidates will contest one parliamentary seat and five state seats.