TANJUNG PIAI (Johor) – Despite being confined to a wheelchair and living an hour away from Johor’s Tanjung Piai parliamentary constituency, Madam Aminah Kasbi, 89, has never missed the chance of casting her vote in any election.

And it is no different on Saturday (Nov 16) when she was among the first to queue at SK Telok Kerang to vote at the Tanjung Piai by-election.

Accompanied by her granddaughter Norhidayah Abdullah, Madam Aminah was waiting at the gates of the voting centre at 7.30am, before polling officially started at 8am.

“I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep last night… I was up since 4am,” she said.

Ms Norhidayah said her grandmother refused to change her voting address despite moving to live with her grandchildren two years ago after a bad fall which affected her mobility.

Retiree Mohd Taib Ahmad, 67, is another voter who turned up early to cast his vote despite suffering from cataract.

“My eyesight is not good but I still want to vote. It is my duty to ensure we get a good representative to serve us,” he said.

Both Madam Aminah and Mr Mohd Taib were among the 52,986 voters in the Tanjung Piai ward. Located about an hour away by car from Iskandar Puteri (formerly Nusajaya) just north of Singapore’s Tuas Second Link, it is a mixed seat with 57 per cent Malays, 42 per cent Chinese and 1 per cent Indian.The incumbent MP, Md Farik Md Rafik – who died of a heart attack on Sept 21 and thus triggered this by-election – won the seat with a narrow majority of 524 votes in a three-cornered fight against Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Wee Jeck Seng and a candidate from Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS).

This by-election is the ninth since the last general election in May last year.

This time around, PH candidate Karmaine Sardini is facing off five candidates, namely BN’s Datuk Seri Wee, Wendy Subramaniam (Gerakan), Datuk Dr Badhrulhisham Abdul Aziz (president of Barisan Jemaah Islamiah) and two independent candidates, Dr Ang Chuan Lock and Faridah Aryani Abdul Ghaffar.

Mr Karmaine arrived at SK Telok Kerang at 7.45am to cast his vote. He took some time to greet voters before leaving at 8.09am to visit other polling centres.

Mr Wee and his wife, Madam Lim Joo Hon, both cast their votes at SJKC Yu Ming. The other four candidates did not cast their votes as they are not voters in the ward.

“I had a good start in the morning, had my shower and breakfast before going to the polling centre to cast my vote with my wife,” The Star Online quoted Mr Wee as saying.

Polling in the ward took on a festive air with flags and banners belonging to PH and BN, as well as other smaller parties, lining the roads leading to the constituency.

PH and BN supporters face off each other and good naturedly waved posters of their candidates and shouted “Number 2” and “Number 4” to passing motorists. The numbers referred to the candidate numbers of Mr Wee and Mr Karmaine respectively.

The Election Commission has targeted a turnout of 70 per cent.

There are a total of 27 polling centres in the constituency. Voting will close at 5.30pm and results are expected latest by 10pm.

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