SEBERANG PERAI, Aug 9 — As the state elections draw near, up north on the mainland of Penang, in the small township of Bertam, former assemblyman Khaliq Mehtab Mohd Ishaq is working against time to visit as many of his previous constituents as possible.

The Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia leader is a familiar face in the small town, which is also the home of former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, but he would not take people’s familiarity with him for granted.

"I am trying to cover as much ground as possible and meet as many voters as possible,” he said when met while making his rounds in a particularly "black area”, a village known as an Umno stronghold.

He said his campaigners will not avoid Barisan Nasional (BN) bastions as he wanted to engage with all the voters in Bertam.

"In fact, it is quite normal for us to campaign even in BN areas,” he said.

Khaliq held the seat for one term, after he won it under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) flag back in 2018 when Bersatu was still in the coalition.

He was forced to vacate the seat early this year by the state legislative assembly under the state anti-hopping law.

Khaliq said in the past five years, before he was forced to vacate the seat and even after he was no longer the assemblyman, he had worked hard and served his constituents well.

"They can see my commitment to the constituency and my commitment to my work,” he said.

Khaliq had won the seat with only a slim majority of 217 in a three-corner fight against BN and PAS candidates back in 2018.

This time, he will be in a straight fight against BN’s Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican, who was formerly the housing and local government minister under the BN government.

Reezal had contested in the Kepala Batas parliamentary seat during the 15th general election but lost it to PN’s new face, Siti Mastura Mohamad.

Khaliq said it is possible for him to retain his seat as the people there are expecting more than just a PN state assemblyman but a change in state government.

"In Bertam, people are looking at the big picture, everyone is looking forward to a change in state government,” he said.

He said the responses to him have been encouraging and positive despite the constituency being known as a BN stronghold.

"I can say that about 80 per cent of the Malay voters are with PN now and I believe we are able to capture a good percentage of the non-Malay voters too,” he said.

The mostly rural seat consists of 69 per cent Malay voters while the balance are non-Malays.

He conceded that some non-Malays may not want to vote for him due to the coalition he’s contesting under but he has been engaging with temple and community leaders to change their perception.

"If we can get about 40 per cent of their support, it would be very good,” he said.

When asked if he is able to make inroads in BN areas, he believed that many of the BN supporters have already switched to PN.

"I think many of them are now our supporters,” he said.

There are a total of 23,999 registered voters in Bertam and it is one of the Malay-majority seats PN is hoping to capture in this state election.

There are a total of 40 state seats in Penang and 15 of them are Malay-majority seats.