As a newcomer in politics, Parti Keadilan Rakyat's Dr Rohana Ariffin never expected to be thrown into her maiden battle facing the BN's Dr Hilmi Yahaya, the Penang deputy chief minister.

The pair are jousting for the Malay-majority Balik Pulau parliamentary seat - Penang's hub of industry, fishing and agriculture, and also where the Penang international airport is located.

Knowing that she is a political greenhorn, Rohana did not promise to bring immediate development to the constituency but pledged to work with the people there.

"I couldn't promise I will bring development to this town overnight, if elected by the rakyat , I will set up a service centre and work together with the people, work with the grassroots," the retired Universiti Sains Malaysia lecturer and social activist said at a ceramah in a small village on Wednesday night.

She pointed out some outstanding local issues that needed to be resolved as soon as possible. For instance, she said there is no hospital in Teluk Bahang, a state seat under the constituency.

"If someone suffers a heart attack, he needs to drive 40-minutes to reach the nearest hospital," Rohana, who was clad in a red baju kurung and green tudung , said.

Outspoken academician

Unlike most of Keadilan's ceramah that is filled with chants of the 'reformasi ' slogan, the crowd here listened quietly to Rohana's 15-minute speech.

"I am still learning how to do it. It is different from lecturing in university," she told malaysiakini after the ceramah .

Even when the ceramah opened for a question-and-answer session, the audience remained silent until one of her friends at the event urged the villagers to vote for Rohana for her rich social activism background and outspokenness despite being limited by university regulations that bar academicians from involvement in political activities.

Her involvement with the local non-governmental organisations (NGO) back in the 1960s, ranging from taking on the struggles of farmers, to the problems of university staff as well as women and workers issues may well convince the people she could really work with them.

However, she has found out that her time with the NGOs is distinctly different from politics.

"Working with NGOs is so different from politics. In NGOs, you just deal with a certain crowd, but in politics, you deal with everything. This is the first time I've been exposed to so many new issues."

The 58-year-old has been described as a 'secret weapon' for her party. She's been a Parti Rakyat Malaysia member for more than 30 years and held several national and state party posts before it merged with Keadilan last year.

Higher majority votes?

The BN is confident of retaining the seat with a bigger majority with the fielding the high-profile Hilmi.

The previously holder of the seat was the BN's Mohd Zain Omar who defeated Keadilan's Mansor Othman in the 1999 polls with a majority of 9,434 votes. A total of 46,368 votes were cast.

Hilmi could not be contacted for comment, but was quoted in media reports as saying he is confident of retaining the traditional BN seat with a bigger majority.

He was quoted as saying that the BN had brought much development to the area, including mosques, a Junior Mara Science College, a district police station and a library.

"I am confident that I can use my vast experience in the state level at the parliamentary in the service of the people ."

His contesting a parliament seat is widely seen as paving the way for him to assume a ministerial post after the election.

However, he has dismissed this as speculation.

Poster war

The atmosphere in the constituency seems to suggest that Hilmi could take Balik Pulau without working up a sweat.

His posters and banners are displayed along the roads of the constituency together with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's while Rohana's are hardly to be seen, leaving the question if there is really an opposition candidate there hanging in the air.

It was learnt that Rohana's campaigning materials were only ready by late Wednesday night due to unexpected technical problems.

Asked why the people should vote for her instead of her opponent, Rohana replied: "I wouldn't want to comment on my opponent but there are still many things that the BN can do, housing, transportation... Maybe they have done to certain extent, but I believe that we can work towards a better situation."

Perhaps this polls should be treated by Rohana just as her entry point for the long road ahead in her political career.