Malaysiakini reported that the Barisan Nasional announced that their candidate for the Permatang Pauh Parliamentary by-elections is Seberang Jaya assemblyperson Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah aged 52 years. The announcement was made by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak tonight after launching Barisan Nasional's election machinery in Seberang Jaya.
It is reported that Datuk Arif Shah is a two-term State assemblyman and can speak fluent in Mandarin, an advantage obviously seen by the Barisan Nasional as a move to swing back the Chinese voters back to it.
Local residents who spoke to Malaysiakini mentioned that Datuk Arif Shah had a "multiracial and youthful appeal" and was "well-liked beyond communal boundaries, are enterprising and untainted clean personality".
Datuk Arif Shah's ace in the sleeve is that, he is familiar with Datuk Seri Anwar's political style, having served as Permatang Pauh Youth chief when Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim headed the UMNO Division there.
There are 58,459 voters, of which 490 are postal voters as of 31 July 2008 at this constituency.
news courtesy of Malaysiakini n photo courtesy of Agendadaily
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