GE14 | Caretaker Johor menteri besar Mohamed Khaled Nordin last night made his first appearance in Pasir Gudang after being formally named as BN's candidate for the parliamentary seat apart from having to also defend his state seat of Permas.

His dual candidacy has led to speculations that his time as Johor menteri besar is coming to an end and that he would be moved back to the federal government, but that is the least of his concerns at this moment.

Pasir Gudang is a marginal seat which BN only managed to retain with a 935-vote majority in the last general election. This is in contrast to Khaled's own seat of state seat Permas where he won comfortably with a 5,752-vote majority.

Khaled immediately went on the offensive upon his return to Pasir Gudang, choosing to hold his first rally in DAP-controlled Johor Jaya instead of his own base of Permas. Pasir Gudang comprises the state seats of Johor Jaya and Permas.

Some 1,000 people turned up to support Khaled at the Taman Johor Jaya multipurpose hall, where Khaled acknowledged that Pakatan Harapan has its sights on the parliamentary seat.

"The opposition is focussing on Pasir Gudang because it is a marginal seat but we will prove them wrong.

"We (BN) have won in Pasir Gudang seven straight times and personally I have my record - it will be 3-0," he said.

Khaled Nordin held the Pasir Gudang seat for two terms since 2004. He moved to the Permas state seat in the 2013 general election to take up the position of Johor menteri besar.

In his absence, Khaled's successor in Pasir Gudang, Normala Abdul Samad, was only able to scrap through a narrow victory at the polls five years ago.

If Khaled fails to arrest BN's slide in support in Pasir Gudang and losses the seat, it could weaken his position even if he wins the state seat of Permas.

If rumours that Khaled would be replaced as the Johor menteri besar come to pass, coupled with a failure to capture a federal seat that is needed to move back to Putrajaya, Khaled political future will be in a precarious situation.

There is still the option of becoming a minister through a senatorship appointment, but risks being labelled as a "backdoor minister".

Fierce battle expected

At the gathering, Khaled made clear the importance of Pasir Gudang in the battle for Johor.

"As the general of Johor BN, we must win Johor and our victory must begin from Pasir Gudang," he stressed.

Khaled has, over the years, consistently rendered his services to the people of Pasir Gudang.

But his campaign yesterday did not entirely kick off smoothly as organisers appeared to have overestimated the turnout, having provided some 1,500 chairs.

The event started later than expected as organisers waited for people to fill up the hall which has a capacity of 5,000 people but many seats at the back remain empty.

At the end of the event, caterers were packing a large amount of leftover food.

The caterers told Malaysiakini that they had prepared 3,000 boxes of nasi biryani but only around 1,000 people showed up.

However, the 1,000-strong crowd, predominantly Malay, is still a respectable size given that Khaled had chosen to host the event in an opposition area instead of his own stronghold of Permas, where he can more easily mobilise supporters.

In the last general election, the polling districts of Johor Jaya north, south, east, west and central all voted in PKR's favour, and overwhelming so in polling streams with younger voters. BN survived in Pasir Gudang with support from the Malay heartland.

Khaled can expect a fierce battle with PKR's candidate Hassan Abdul Karim, who is also the Johor PKR chief, but the contest will likely be messier with PAS joining the fray.

According to the electoral roll ending 2017, the mixed-race seat of Pasir Gudang comprises 49 percent Malays, 37 percent Chinese and 10 percent Indians.

At the state level, Permas makes up 55 percent Malays, 27 percent Chinese and 14 percent Indians while Johor Jaya has 47 percent Chinese, 42 percent Malays and seven percent Indians.