No longer Noh Omar’s, Tanjong Karang in Selangor set for five-way tussle
TANJONG KARANG, Nov 5 — Four coalitions and one independent have been accepted as candidates for the Selangor parliamentary seat of Tanjong Karang that has long been held by Umno veteran Tan Sri Noh Omar.
District Officer Mohd Raiz Radzuan who is also Tanjong Karang Returning Officer made the announcement at 10.45am today.
Noh, who held the seat for the past six terms, is not contesting this time.
In his place, the Barisan Nasional (BN) went with Datuk Habibah Mohd Yusof who wore a bright red baju kurung and really stood out from the sea of her 100-strong supporters who were clad in the coalition’s dark blue colours.
Muda candidate Siti Rahayu Baharin and her supporters, November 5, 2022. ― Picture by Radzi Razak
The first candidate to file her nomination papers here was education activist Siti Rahayu Baharin from the Malaysia United Democratic Alliance (Muda). The youth-centric party has teamed up with the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition for this general election.
Siti Rahayu, popularly known as Cikgu Rahayu, also stood out in her maroon baju kurung, which contrasted against the black clothing of her supporters which is also Muda’s colour.
Her group of 30 people gathered at the FAMA office at 8.30am before walking to the Datuk Hormat Hall some 60 metres away at 8.50am, cheering and singing songs.
Pejuang candidate Azlan Sani Zawawi waiting to be called to send nomination papers in Tanjong Karang. ― Picture by Radzi Razak
Another activist Azlan Sani Zawawi, who advocates for road safety, stood at another corner across from Siti Rahayu.
Azlan who is better known by his moniker, Lando, is representing Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang), which is the latest political vehicle for former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Azlan opted to dress in a black suit with a Nehru collar with a matching tanjak, a Malay headgear, which has become his signature look. In contrast, his supporters were all clad in white.
Rather than swapping barbs or jibes, Muda and Pejuang supporters teased each other’s candidates with light hearted banter.
“Lando handsome”, “Brotherhood!” Muda supporters called out to the Pejuang team, referring to Azlan’s catchphrase that has been made famous on social media.
The BN team for Habibah stood on the other side of the nomination hall. Their candidate wore a bright red baju kurung surrounded by supporters in the dark blue that is synonymous with BN.
More than half of them were women who proudly declared their intent to defend the Tanjong Karang seat for BN.
The Perikatan Nasional candidate was the last to arrive with about 30 supporters.
Former army physician Datuk Dr Zulkafperi Hanapi who dressed in a blue baju melayu, walked into the hall accompanied by his supporters chanting “selawat”, a praise to Prophet Muhammad (praising the prophet) after he is being called to the hall.
Dwarfed by such big guns and the hullaballoo, independent candidate Mohd Rosni Mastol was almost unnoticed when he entered the hall with only his proposer and one other supporter.
Clad in a peach-coloured baju melayu, Mohd Rosni maintained his confidence and calm and in answer to questions from reporters, said he is the only local to the area that was standing for election.
Tanjong Karang has 62,194 predominantly Malay voters.
In Election 2018 Noh — who is still the current Selangor Umno and BN chief defeated Zulkaperi who at that time contested under Pakatan Harapan using PKR flag by a slim 1,970 votes.
