This town of farmers, rubber tappers and civil servants is predominantly Malay, with pockets of the Siamese community.

It is also where the late Fadzil Noor, the PAS president until his death in 2002, broke Barisan Nasional’s winning streaks in 1999, which saw the Islamist party capturing one-third of all state seats in Kedah.

Othman Abdul, the current Pendang MP, first contested in 1986, and won again in the next two general elections.

But in 1999 polls, Othman who was serving as parliamentary secretary to then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad lost to Fadzil by 2,939 votes.

Othman returned to the seat with a narrow majority of 283 votes in the by-election that was called after Fadzil’s death.

In 2004, when PAS lost Kedah, the Islamist party managed to win Pendang by a razor-thin margin of just 50 votes. In 2008, PAS’ win was more comfortable, getting a bigger majority of 4,073 votes.

In 2013, PAS fielded its strongman then, Mohamad Sabu, but Othman defeated him by 2,638 votes.

It looks like Othman will keep surfacing in Pendang as he has shown in the last elections. This time, however, PPBM is planning to put him out for good.

Speaking to FMT, Pendang PPBM chief Abdul Razak Khamis said Othman was popular in the 1990s, but that is no longer the case because many voters this time around are first-time voters who could not relate to the Umno man.

“Those who are 40 years and below, Othman is not appealing to them. He does not hold much sway over this group of voters,” he said.

“To them, there is nothing special about Othman. Furthermore, he is not among the Umno elite. He lost in the Umno party elections,” he said.

Razak said the rising costs of living and unemployment were major concerns for the people of Pendang.

He said many unemployed youths have returned here after quitting their factory and office jobs, only to find out that farming and rubber-tapping could not provide them with a good income.

“With the price of rubber now at RM2 a kilogramme, the most rubber tappers can get is about RM40 or RM50 a day. How can they afford to care for their family with just RM50?

“So when they return to the village, what are they going to do? Start a business? It is not profitable. Many shops have shut down. Similarly with supermarkets,” he said.

Razak said unemployment has led to social problems such as drug abuse, and youngsters “who just hang around”.

“It is instances like this that have pushed the rakyat to a corner, to the point they cannot take it anymore,” he said.

Razak is confident that PPBM could wrest Pendang in the wake of closer ties between PAS and Umno.

He said 40% of Umno members here had switched to PPBM.

“I am confident that PH will score a big win here in Pendang. BN can field any candidate they want, and they can use whatever strategy they want. But I believe the people here will give us a chance to form the government.”

He said the 4,000-strong Siamese community in Pendang who have traditionally backed BN has also switched allegiance.

One reason, said Razak, was because the Siamese were not happy that they were not given Bumiputera rights as promised.

“Najib previously said Siamese were considered Bumiputeras, but they do not get the Bumiputera rights.”