GE13 WATCH PERAK The ‘political tsunami’ that had swept aside the BN in three federal and nine state seats in the Kinta Valley in 2008, was not quite as powerful in the Tambun parliamentary constituency.

The BN had secured Tambun - and the two state seats under it - although it suffered a sharp drop in the margin of victory.

NONE Five years on, Pakatan Rakyat is again weighing its chances against two-term BN incumbent Ahmad Husni Mohamad Hanadzlah (left) in the Tambun constituency, situated between Ipoh and Sungai Siput.

Tambun is a Malay-majority urban seat with 89,435 voters - 64 percent are Malays, 22 percent Chinese and 12 percent Indians.

Perak PKR is fielding its youthful women’s wing head Siti Aishah Shaik Ismail there against Ahmad Husni.

According to locals, Ahmad Husni - the caretaker second finance minister - is a popular personality and a regular “Mr Nice Guy”.

Those interviewed said he has brought  a lot of development to the constituency and has solved many of their problems.

Votes from the General Operations Force’s northern brigade 7km away, alongside those of 3,024 police personnel, will boost his chances of defending the seat.

PKR, due to its weaker election machinery, is less well known in Tambun. Some residents claimed they had not even heard of the party before nomination day on April 20.

NONE It is believed that Siti Aishah, 27, is being fielded because she has the ability to attract the support of Malays among the 17,433 new voters on the electoral roll.

                        

Siti Aishah was born in Selangor but raised in the predominantly Malay enclave of Manjoi in Ipoh. She was media officer to Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin when he was Perak Menteri Besar before Pakatan lost control of the state.

Perak PAS election director Asmuni Awi is contesting the Manjoi state seat, where the party has been campaigning hard.

He said Pakatan will need more votes from Manjoi to offset the votes of the police and security personnel.

Manjoi - advantage PAS?

In the Hulu Kinta state seat, PKR’s A Tinagaran is taking on the BN’s Aminuddin Md Hanafiah, who is Ahmad Husni’s former political secretary.

Ahmad Husin is helping to campaign for Aminuddin, promoting him as one of three political secretaries being fielded by the BN nationwide.

With such strong backing, Aminuddin is expected to win the contest.

It is a different story for Mohamad Ziad Mohamed in Manjoi, which had gone to the BN in 2008 with a tiny majority of 348 votes.

The constituency now has 51,036 voters - 67 percent Malays, 22 percent Chinese and 10 percent Indians.

NONE Ziad is the son-in-law of former Perak menteri besar Mohd Tajol Rosli Ghazali and the treasurer of the Tambun Umno division.

However, it is learnt that he is not from the local community, which is taken to mean that many party members are not familiar with him.

In addition, there are problems within Manjoi Umno - its branch chief and committee members have quit the party to join PAS.

Asmuni (right) is banking on the fact that voters will remember that PAS has been working hard in the constituency, and will back him on Sunday.