PAS' candidate for the Gombak , Dr Hatta Ramli has detected a more open attitude towards the opposition than was the case in the last polls.

He told malaysiakini that his encounters with the Chinese and Indian community during his election campaign rounds the past week proved positive, leading him to believe that he will fare better this time around.

"It's a tough fight here. But based on the response the chances are 50-50 for me... whatever it is I am satisfied with the efforts of the election workers who worked very hard to convince voters to support me and the other BA candidates," he said.

During a recent visit to Taman Templer where 40 percent of the voters are Chinese, Hatta said that they seemed to be interested in information on BA and its election pledges.

Apart from contesting in the Gombak parliamentary seat, Hatta is also gunning for the new Taman Templer state seat.

"We met them during our rounds at housing areas, markets and pasar malam , where we disseminated flyers informing them about the coalition and its aspirations. They seemed very positive," he said when contacted today.

"I am also surprised to see the Indian community in Batu Caves were quite warm towards us. Compared to the last election, they were more responsive."

Housing problems

He said most of them were unhappy with their former Barisan Nasional (BN) representative who they claimed failed to address their problems.

"Most of them are facing housing-related problems. Some of them are going to be evicted due to the uneven development here and those who lived in flats have so many unresolved problems," he said.

He added they also showed keen interest on the one house scheme proposed in the Selangor BA manifesto .

In 1999, Hatta, who is PAS central committee member, had contested in the same parliamentary constituency, losing narrowly to BN/Umno's Zaleha Ismail by 803 votes.

He garnered 27,310 votes while his opponent clinched a total of 28,113. This year his opponent is Umno's Dr Raman Ismail.

Gombak has 92,225 registered voters, of which 74 percent are Malays, 14 percent Chinese and 10 percent Indians.

As for the Taman Templer state seat, Hatta will be running against BN/Umno's Ahmad Bhari Abdul Rahman, This seat, which falls under the Selayang parliamentary constituency, has 35,431 voters, of which 56 percent are Malays, 31 percent Chinese and 12 percent Indians.

Heartening response

Meanwhile, Hatta is confident that those who had favoured the opposition in the 1999 elections will continue to do so this time too.

"The people may not take their grouses to the streets as they did in 1999 but the anger is still there. The Anwar Ibrahim issue remains unresolved, he is still in jail and has been denied bail and medical treatment. There is no reason for them to change their votes this time," he said.

He is also encouraged by the response from the Malays whose ceramah attendance had been very heartening.

"We have conducted 10 ceramah a day at several areas and most are well-attended. People here still considers us relevant."