Umno Moves To Unseat Anwar In Permatang Pauh

BUKIT MERTAJAM -- The Permatang Pauh Umno youth and women's wings today distributed 100,000 leaflets promoting the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the constituency as part of the BN attempt to unseat the MP, Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, in the next general election.

Permatang Pauh Umno Youth head Mohd Zaidi Mohd Said said the leaflets were given to the people in their homes and in public places.

"Today, 1,000 volunteers from the two wings distributed the leaflets to the constituents. The leaflets contained information on the BN government's aid to the people, such as the 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M) and the other initiatives introduced by the prime minister (Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak)," he told reporters after the launch of the programme.

The programme was launched by Penang Umno deputy chairman Datuk Musa Sheikh Fadzir. Also present was Permatang Pauh Umno Division chief Datuk Abdul Jalil Abdul Majid.

Mohd Zaidi said the programme was a signal to Anwar that Umno would give him a strong fight in the constituency in the next general election.

He added that they had gone to the so-called stronghold areas of Anwar in the constituency and obtained positive feedback from the voters.

"I wish to inform Anwar that he will not have it easy in the general election. The BN machinery has worked hard over the past few years to recapture the seat," he said.

He also said that the young voters, aged 21 to 40, in the constituency were backing the BN as was evident from their response to the programmes organised by the coalition.

"Some 24,000 of the more than 70,000 voters in Permatang Pauh are young people and I believe their support for Umno and the BN is rising," he said.

Earlier, in his speech, Abdul Jalil said he was confident Umno would recapture the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat and the state seats of Permatang Pasir and Penanti as well as retain the Seberang Jaya state seat in the next general election.

Seberang Jaya is held by Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah of the BN, Permatang Pasir by Datuk Mohd Saleh Man of PAS and Penanti by Datuk Mansor Osman of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

-- BERNAMA