PAS forced to parachute candidate after local members say ‘no’

KLANG: Several PAS members from the Sungai Besar parliamentary constituency had declined to be candidates in the upcoming by-election when asked by their party leadership to contest.

A Pakatan Harapan insider said the Islamist party had even asked one of their members, a village headman in the area to contest, but he too declined.

“They know they can’t win and did not want to face a crushing defeat more so after they heard about the two candidates on Party Amanah Negara’s (Amanah) list,” said the source who is also an elected representative.

That was why, he added, the PAS leadership had to “parachute” Meru assemblyman Dr Abdul Rani Osman into Sungai Besar to contest.

The source said Dr Abdul Rani was a loyalist of PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang who would not go against a directive.

A PKR source said the two candidates on top of Amanah’s list were former Kuala Selangor MP Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad and Sungai Besar Amanah chief Ustaz Azhar Datuk Shukor.

Azhar is the son of a former Barisan Nasional assemblyman in a nearby state constituency.

He said the local PAS members were also in favour of a PKR candidate taking on the Barisan Nasional candidate.

Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azmin Ali had worked hard to negotiate with Selangor PAS commissioner Datuk Iskandar Abdul Samad for a PKR candidate to contest in Sungai Besar in a straight fight with Barisan, but the discussions with the Islamist party ended in a stalemate.

This was in spite of a study carried out by a think tank for Pakatan, which indicated that Barisan will enjoy a big win if it were a three-cornered fight for the Sungai Besar seat.

The source said the negotiations between Azmin and Iskandar had also touched on the possibility that PKR only contest in the by-election and that the seat would be returned to PAS in the next general election.

“But PAS was adamant in contesting and refused to listen to reason,” he said.

Meanwhile, Selangor Barisan Nasional Wanita chief Datin Paduka Norhayati Tan Sri Onn said the coalition’s candidate Budiman Mohd Zohdi was the right candidate.

“Being the Sungai Panjang assemblyman, he is well known and liked by the local community, and has also worked closely alongside the incumbent, the late Datuk Noriah Kasnon, in addressing the issues faced by the constituents there,” she said in a statement.

The Sungai Besar seat fell vacant after Noriah died in a helicopter crash on May 5.