The Barisan Nasional candidate for Pendang, Othman Abdul, was in high spirits this morning.

When malaysiakini met him, 56 former PAS members had handed in their application forms to join Umno. He was jubilant.

"More are expected to defect, especially the youths in the constituency. They are returning to the Umno fold. This is a very good trend," he said.

Othman, 51, (photo) who is Umno Pendang division head, was a four-term member of Parliament for Pendang before he lost the seat to the late PAS president Fadzil Mohd Noor in 1999.

Othman's Umno colleagues described him as a "persistent" politician who refuses to give up easily. Although he was defeated, he continues visiting the people in Pendang.

Because of his grassroots touch coupled with his reputation and experience as a former Pendang assistant district officer, Othman is now touted as a possible winner in the by-election.

He is also a local Pendang boy, married with five children and is a shareholder in Kurnia, a well-known insurance company.

The population in Pendang comprises 77,427 Malay Malaysians, 7,266 Chinese Malaysians, 6,189 Thai Malaysians and 1,012 Indian Malaysians.

Othman told malaysiakini that his first task if he wins Pendang on Thursday would be to see to the educational needs of the children in the constituency.

Getting funds for schools

"I will see to it that local schools get enough funds to offer better services to the children. Education is really important," he stressed.

"I will make sure that all the schools get computers because students need to be IT-literate now with globalisation and all," he added.

Othman is also confident of victory "as PAS leaders are showing signs of retreating from the district".

"They are all moving to Anak Bukit. Even the PAS chief in Pendang is nowhere to be seen and we hear that his son is expected to defect to Umno soon," Othman said.

"I am also confident because the non-Muslims are behind us this includes the Chinese, Indians and the Siamese. All I need is 45 percent of the Malay votes," he added.

On the alleged aggressive campaign tactics of PAS, Othman said "they are old and dirty tactics".

"Those tactics will backfire and make people hate them (PAS)," he said.

"In Umno, we do not do such things. We do things morally, not immorally. We do not stoop that low to bring someone down," he added.