Umno's Mohd Isa Samad will not be cowed by the popularity of his challenger for the Jempol parliamentary seat and is confident this will not affect his campaign in the coming days.

Instead of focusing on veteran singer Aishah, whose real name is Wan Aishah Wan Ariffin, the former Negri Sembilan menteri besar is determined to make the contest as one between BN and the Islamic party, a party which he said has "many problems".

NONE "I do not care if she (Aishah) is a singer, ustaz, teacher or lawyer because that is her profession.

"We are contesting in terms of our parties, which means we (Umno) are competing with PAS and we know PAS has many problems," he said, citing waning confidence among Muslims and PAS' own party members.

He was speaking during an interview session with the media after he had successfully submitted his nomination papers at the Jempol District and Land Office complex yesterday morning.

'Pakatan lives on issues'

Asked if he was a fan of Aishah, Isa laughed and replied that he only listens to song from the 60s.

In expressing confidence that BN will make a clean sweep of all seats it is contesting in Jempol on May 5, the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) chairperson claimed Pakatan Rakyat "lives on issues alone".

NONE He said that over the past five years, Pakatan in Negri Sembilan only knew how to "stir up issues" while at the same time it has not come up with any "outstanding ideas" of its own.

Aishah had arrived at the nomination centre yesterday accompanied by some 500 supporters, holding posters and chanting, "The rakyat are the (tuan) master" and "Give us a chance to serve the master".

Surprisingly, the celebrity appeared somewhat reluctant to be photographed while waiting to submit her nomination papers, a stark contrast to Isa who was seen smiling to the cameras as well as to the 3,000-strong crowd that turned up to support his nomination.

Isa is tipped to be picked as MB for the second time in his long political career should BN comes out victorious in the state at the general election.

He was appointed federal territories minister in 2004, but was removed from the post a year later when he was convicted of vote buying in the party elections.