BUKIT MERTAJAM: After almost two weeks of campaigning, Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for Permatang Pauh, Suhaimi Sabudin defended his lack of oratorical skills yesterday, saying he makes up for it with leadership qualities.

“From the very beginning, I haven’t been good at talking.

“But I find that I do have leadership skills in me, after I was named the candidate and began campaigning.

“This has been the best experience for me,” Suhaimi, a construction firm managing director, told reporters at the BN command centre during a press conference.

Suhaimi is the underdog in the Permatang Pauh contest, facing PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail who won the seat three times in the 1999 by-election and the 2004 and 2008 general elections.

The other contenders for the seat are Parti Rakyat Malaysia’s Azman Shah Othman and independent candidate Salleh Isahak.

Suhaimi’s style throughout the campaign has been on the quiet side, smiling and shaking hands more than making fiery speeches to draw voters to support him and not the opposition, which is using the goods and services tax and other national issues to attack BN.

Whether Suhaimi wins or loses will be determined by 71,669 Permatang Pauh voters who go to the ballot box today in 28 polling districts. Suhaimi will be voting at 8am at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Guar Perahu Indah in the PKR stronghold.

He said the BN machinery comprising all component parties had worked hard on the ground to woo voters and convince them that the coalition deserves a chance.

“We are beginning to see the people warming up to us. I have seen the twinkle in their eyes,” the Permatang Pauh Umno division secretary said. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on May 7, 2015.