Setback for PAS in Lenggeng

The party's candidate for the Lenggeng state seat has been admitted in hospital after collapsing early Saturday morning.

SEREMBAN: PAS is facing a setback in Negeri Sembilan in its quest to win as many seats as possible to help its allies DAP and PKR to form the new state government after May 5 polls.

The party’s candidate for the Lenggeng state seat, Zulkefly Mohamad Omar had been hospitalised  in a worrying condition after collapsing upon completing his ceramah in Taman Ampangan.

Negeri Sembilan PAS secretary Mohd Hassan Tamby told FMT that Zulkefly had collapsed in his house in Lenggeng after returning from his ceramah.

“He collapsed at his home due to a very high blood pressure at around 1am on Saturday morning,” said Mohd Hassan.

“He was immediately rushed to the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital (HKL) and warded in the intensive care unit (ICU). Yesterday evening he was transferred to a normal ward and his condition is stable now,” he added.

Mohd Hassan said Zulkefly had regained consciousness today and had started to speak.

“I believe he should be alright very soon,” said Mohamad Hasan optimistically.

However sources told FMT that Zulkefly’s health condition will surely have a major impact on his chances to win the state seat.

So far, Zulkefly has been leading the race in Lenggeng and have a greater chance to finally win the Lenggeng state seat after three unsuccessful attempts in 1999, 2004 and 2008.

Barisan Nasional’s three-term former state assemblymen, Ishak Ismail is facing internal sabotage this time.

FMT had previously reported that some Lenggeng Umno members had staged an open protest against Ishak’s candidacy.

They had also fielded an independent candidate Zulkifli Abdullah to contest for the seat. Zulkifli has been sacked by Umno last Monday.

Lenggeng state seat can be divided into three zones, Lenggeng, Pantai and the urban Panchor Jaya.

Lenggeng is Zulkefly’s fortress while Pantai is Ishak’s stronghold. The interesting part is that Ishak has been concentrating his campaign mostly in Pantai and has problems in Lenggeng where the other Umno faction is based.

To make things worse for Ishak, he has yet to hit the ground at Panchor Jaya where there are more than 1, 000 voters made up of mostly middle class and upper middle class Malays. Zulkefly stood a better chance in getting the votes here.

Zulkefly’s current situation definitely worries the PAS camp. While he may be out of danger, the fear is that Umno may use his health conditions to convince voters to vote against him.

Lenggeng has 15,340 voters. Malays form 74.61 percent, Chinese 16.32 percent, Indians 6.83 percent and others 2.96 percent.