Uphill battle for BN in Lembah Pantai?

It is no secret that Federal Territories Minister Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin is the BN’s favoured candidate for the Lembah Pantai parliamentary seat in the coming general election.

But judging by the response of those at a BN-Umno Lembah Pantai event yesterday - at which certificates, cash and schoolbags were doled out to students who had done well in the last UPSR and PMR examinations - he faces a tough task in wresting the seat from incumbent Nurul Izzah Anwar.

In his speech during the event at the Experimental Theatre in Universiti Malaya, Raja Nong Chik asked some 300 parents present to vote for BN.

Only the students clapped, while the parents were distinctly lukewarm in their response.

“Remember that we are about to face a festive period. We celebrated the Federal Territories Day last Friday and next week we will have Chinese New Year. 

“Next, we will have a bigger Hari Raya. And when the time comes, I hope you (parents) will do the right thing by voting for BN.”

When only the children applauded this, he said: “Judging by the response of the children, the BN will win.”

The event organisers told parents that Raja Nong Chik had personally set aside close to RM40,000 of personal funds to sponsor the cash awards for the students.

This was the fourth year in a row that the BN-Umno Lembah Pantai has organised the event.

And while the election date has yet to be announced, BN flags have been displayed around the constituency.

Kuala Lumpur City Hall, which is under Raja Nong Chik’s jurisdiction, did not remove the flags for some time. Today however, the flags were brought down.

In the 2008 election, Nurul Izzah won the seat with a majority of 2,895 votes over the BN’s Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.