SEBERANG PERAI, April 27 ― Located in northern Seberang Perai, Kepala Batas has always been an Umno stronghold, even after the GE12 tsunami back in 2008 when the Opposition won Penang in a landslide victory.

It is a constituency which was held by former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for 35 years, and therefore will be a tough battle for Parti Amanah Negara to try and carve up a win in GE14.

Besides facing Umno, Amanah will also be going up against PAS in a three-cornered fight.

Amanah's Kepala Batas candidate, Dr Zaidi Zakaria, 48, admitted that in this constituency, Amanah is very much the underdog compared to both Barisan Nasional (BN) and PAS.

He said the people's sentiments for “Pak Lah”, as how Abdullah is fondly known by his supporters, are still strong till today but it had reduced greatly when Abdullah stepped down from the seat in 2013.

“There is still a very strong sentiment for Pak Lah but when they placed someone else, Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican, in the seat, the support dropped, their vote majority dipped by more than half from 11,000 down to 4,000 votes,” he said in an interview with Malay Mail.

He said the scenario would have been different if the candidate replacing Abdullah was his son because of the “Pak Lah sentiment”.

“He comes from a family of strong religious background where his grandfather was a highly respected ulama and his father, Ahmad Badawi, was also a respected ulama and was also an MP in the constituency,” he said.

Without the “Pak Lah sentiment”, Dr Zaidi said it is possible for Amanah to make inroads and sway voters to Pakatan Harapan (PH).

One of the strategies Dr Zaidi plans to use to win over voters was to come up with a manifesto, titled “Kepala Batas Bestari dan Harmoni”, that looked into their wellbeing, especially in health matters.

The paediatrician, who works in a private hospital in Bukit Mertajam, said he will propose for the Kepala Batas Hospital to be upgraded into a specialist hospital.

He said the whole state of Penang only has two government-owned specialist hospitals ― Penang Hospital and Seberang Jaya Hospital ― so there should be another one on the mainland.

“The Kepala Batas Hospital should be upgraded to be a specialist hospital and as there are a lot of senior citizens here, I will also propose for a geriatric centre to be established in the hospital,” he said.

He said there are now only two geriatric centres in private hospitals in the country so there is a need for a government-owned geriatric centre to cater to the medical needs of senior citizens.

Dr Zaidi there will also be a focus on education as he plans to set up another SMK Agama Al-Irshad in Kepala Batas.

The existing SMK Agama Al-Irshad is a top school in Kepala Batas and so high in demand that it was very hard for students to get into the school, he said.

“So, in my manifesto, I pledged to set up SMK Agama Al-Irshad 2, as an extension to the school to cater to the constituents,” he said.

As for local issues in the constituency of over 51,000 voters that are majority ethnic Malays, Dr Zaidi said there are unresolved land issues in Kuala Muda, the village that was hit by the 2004 tsunami.

The houses destroyed by the tsunami near the river banks were left abandoned while the villagers, of about 400, have already relocated further inland to new housing built by the federal government for them.

He said the housing were built by federal government but the land was state-owned and because of this, there were issues with the land titles of the houses that the villagers are living in now.

“This will be one issue that I will try to resolve as it has dragged on for many years without any solution,” he said.

At the same time, he plans to develop and turn Kuala Muda into a tourism destination by building a restaurant there and a tourist centre to attract tourism to the spot.

The site, located in Penaga, is already well-known for its Pasar Bisik (Whispering Market) so he said it needed to be spruced up with proper infrastructure to draw visitors and further spur economic activities in the area.

Dr Zaidi said Amanah's election machinery may be comparatively smaller than BN or even PAS but he believed that he may still be able to garner votes from “silent supporters”.

“We must remember, a lot of PAS supporters and members can be supportive of PH and our fight but they did not leave PAS for fear of being called infidels so we can't discount these silent supporters,” he said.

Amanah has about 600 to 700 members in Kepala Batas but Dr Zaidi said this is more than enough for their election machinery to reach out to the constituents.

He firmly believed that there will be a Malay tsunami even in BN's stronghold and for once in history, the seat will fall to the opposition this general election.

The Kepala Batas parliamentary constituency has three state constituencies under it, Penaga, Pinang Tunggal and Bertam. All four seats are currently held by BN.

Dr Zaidi is expected to go up against incumbent Reezal Merican and a PAS candidate on May 9.