After seven successive by-election defeats for Barisan Nasional in peninsular Malaysia, Negri Sembilan Menteri Besar Mohamad Hassan wants to finally reverse the trend in Bagan Pinang.

isa and hassan bagan pinang 05102009 At a dialogue session with doctors and nurses in Teluk Kemang yesterday, Mohamad (left in photo) urged them to give him "face" and vote for BN candidate Isa Samad.

"Please give me face and return to BN its dignity. Under my leadership, here in Negeri Sembilan, we'll push back the tsunami. Can you do that?" asked Mohamad .

He received a boisterous reply of "boleh " (Yes).

Though Isa is widely expected to walk all over his PAS opponent Zulkefly Mohd Omar, Mohamad is taking no chances and has been attending back-to-back campaign activities since nomination day.

MB asks for ‘favour'

The function which lasted about an hour saw the Mohamad explaining at length how his state administration had helped civil servants.

At one point, he surprised the crowd by pleading for their votes.

"I seldom do this but I really want a favour from you all. Please vote for BN," he said in a mixture of English and Malay.

"Please give BN a chance. We need a stable government. This is no time to be playing politics. I have been menteri besar for five years, you all know that I'm busy with work and I don't like to play politics."

Polling will be held on Sunday