But Ramlan said there was one less obstacle in his way now that the 1MDB scandal was no longer that much of an issue that the opposition would harp on during campaigning.

“This time around we’re not facing any mega issues like in the previous election where we were pushed to the corner. He (former prime minister Najib Razak) has already been jailed,” he told FMT in an interview at his office in Bangsar recently.

Heralding BN’s message of stability and prosperity, 61-year-old Ramlan said he was banking on Malay support from Pantai Dalam, Abdullah Hukum, Kerinchi, Taman Bukit Angkasa, and Kampung Pasir in the constituency.

A former national footballer in the 1980s, Ramlan claimed that non-Malay support had improved greatly in recent years, especially after seeing that “nothing much has changed” when Pakatan Harapan governed for 22 months.

“Many people are disappointed with PH as they made too many promises in their manifesto. And, currently, their concern is the economy.

“It is our pledge to restore political stability and economic prosperity,” he said, adding that Melaka and Johor have been attracting investments after BN won in the respective state elections.

BN last held Lembah Pantai in 2004 when Shahrizat Abdul Jalil won with a 15,288-vote majority. In 2008, PKR’s Nurul Izzah Anwar defeated Shahrizat by 2,895 votes.

In 2013, Nurul Izzah managed to fend off BN’s Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin with a slimmer majority of 1,847 votes, but Fahmi then retained the seat in 2018 by 5,598 votes.

As a sportsman, Ramlan had plans to set up more sports and recreational facilities in the area. This was also in hopes of garnering the support of young voters.

He said there were about 3,000 voters aged 18 to 21 in the constituency, and that a BN survey found that half of them were in favour of the Umno-led coalition.

“Most of their parents are also BN supporters,” he said, adding that another 1,000 of these new voters were fence-sitters.