Selection as BN candidate comes with heavy responsibility - Hasan

Rompin UMNO acting chief Datuk Hasan Arifin today said that his selection as the Barisan Nasional's (BN) candidate for the Rompin parliamentary by-election comes with a very heavy responsibility.

While promising to do his level best for party and the people in the constituency, Hasan also admitted that it would not be easy for him to maintain the momentum and motivation of the late Tan Sri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis, who held the parliamentary seat for 28 years.

"This is not an easy path. I have to be ready to spend my time and energy because the key performance indicator set by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is to have an increase of five per cent in vote majority," he told reporters here today.

Speaking at his first press conference after being announced as BN candidate for the by-election, Hasan said the decision was made by top party leadership without any help from Umno division.

Officially, he said Rompin Umno did not propose any name, but had only hinted that the candidate should be selected among members of Rompin Umno division committee.

"We did so because we believe that a local candidate will get an undivided support from the people and thus, we left it fully to the top party leadership to decide.

"Now that the decision has been made, I hope we all can close ranks and work hard to ensure victory for BN," he said.

Hasan said he would take the 'small but effective' approach in his campaign to win the hearts of the voters, that is by having a face-to-face session with voters in a small group to learn about their problems and to offer them explanations on current issues.

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"One issue in particular is the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which is expected to be raised by the opposition," he said.

When asked his feeling to be given another opportunity to serve the people as an elected representative, Hasan, who is former deputy menteri besar and Bukit Ibam assemblyman, said: "I have never stopped serving the people. Rompin is always in my heart, my home town. I know everything about this constituency."

He said if elected, he would develop Rompin through its tourism sector as the world famous Tioman Island was located in Rompin constituency, and through the agriculture sector which was the main source of income for the residents, especially in Felda settlements.

The Rompin parliamentary by-election is to be held following the death of Jamaluddin in a helicopter crash in Semenyih on April 4.

The late Jamaluddin was a six-term Member of Parliament from 1990 and beat PAS' former Women chief Nuridah Mohd Salleh with a majority of 15,114 votes inthe general election in 2013.

The Election Commission fixed polling date for the by-election on May 5 and nomination on April 22.

The constituency has 53,924 registered voters with 1,300 Chinese voters, 621 Indians and 7,000 Orang Asli.