Tg Piai by-election: Pakatan yet to decide on candidate
MUAR: Pakatan Harapan (PH) has yet to select its candidate to defend the Tanjung Piai parliamentary seat by-election, scheduled for next month.
Johor Pakatan chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, however, said that they have identified several people as potential candidates.
“We did not discuss it (the list of candidates) today. But it is something that we are looking at. We already have several names but we still have time.
“We will decide who is more suitable, who is popular, who is wise, who is educated, who is local. We will submit the name to the Pakatan leadership to decide,” he told reporters after chairing the Johor Pakatan meeting at the Pagoh Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) office in Pagoh Jaya today.
The Bersatu president also confirmed that the candidate would be from his own party.
“We are holding on to what was decided during the last general election, unless there is a new decision by the top leadership. For now, this seat will be contested by Bersatu, but during the election, we will not say Bersatu, it will be Pakatan” he said.
Muhyiddin was commenting on the list of candidates whose names were discussed during the meeting and if he would still be from Bersatu.
Describing the by-election as a challenge, Muhyiddin said Pakatan did not see it as a simple task as it was significant and had caught local and international attention.
“We do not take it lightly. I believe the opposition is also ready to challenge, but this is a democracy, we will face it,” he said.
“Whatever the situation, we hope the voters in Tanjung Piai who number more than 52,000 will give their undivided support,” he said, adding that the Pakatan machinery was prepared to defend the parliamentary seat.
Also present at the two-hour meeting were Bersatu secretary Datuk Marzuki Yahya, Johor menteri besar Datuk Dr Sahruddin Jamal, and state leaders of the component parties.
Among them were Parti Amanah Negara deputy president Datuk Salahuddin Ayub, Johor DAP chairman Liew Chin Tong, Johor PKR chairman Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh and Johor Bersatu chairman Mazlan Bujang.
The meeting also decided on Sahruddin’s appointment as chairman of the Pakatan machinery during the by-election.
The by-election, which is set for Nov 16, follows the death of its incumbent, Datuk Dr Md Farid Md Rafik, 42, from heart complications on Sept 21.
Md Farid, who was also Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, left behind a wife and three daughters.
Bernama
