Let PN Supreme Council decide on Nenggiri candidate, Bersatu tells PAS

Kelantan Bersatu chairman Kamaruddin Nor (left) said Gua Musang PAS chief Azman Ahmad should bring his proposals to the higher-ups, not at the state level.

PETALING JAYA: Kelantan Bersatu has told a PAS division to officially notify the top Perikatan Nasional leadership if it wants to contest the Aug 17 by-election for the Nenggiri state seat.

Kelantan Bersatu chief Kamaruddin Nor said the PN Supreme Council, which includes PAS leaders, will make the final decision on who would be fielded for the by-election.

“If they want to discuss the matter, bring it to the higher-ups. They have to raise it with the top leadership, not at the state level,” he told FMT.

He believed that whatever decision the central PN leadership came to, the PAS election machinery would be on the ground to campaign for the coalition’s candidate.

Yesterday, Gua Musang PAS chief Azman Ahmad said Bersatu should make way for the Islamic party in the Nenggiri by-election due to voters’ concern that their elected representative may switch sides again if a Bersatu candidate is fielded.

He said voters trusted PAS more than Bersatu after several of the latter’s elected representatives declared support for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and the unity government.

Last Friday, PN chairman Muhyiddin Yassin said the coalition’s candidate for the Nenggiri polls would come from Bersatu.

The state seat was declared vacant after Azizi Abu Naim ceased to be a Bersatu member for not obeying party orders.

Azizi, who is also Gua Musang MP, is among six MPs who declared support for Anwar. However, he had maintained his support for the PAS-led Kelantan government.

Meanwhile, Azizi expressed hope that he would be allowed to defend his Gua Musang parliamentary seat if a by-election is called, since he has agreed to make way for Barisan Nasional in Nenggiri.

He appealed to the BN-Pakatan Harapan leadership to consider this, saying he has been working hard to woo young voters and serve constituents even since 2020.

“I’ve been at work since 2020, why allow others to contest? I will use this excuse to get PH and BN to give me a chance (if a by-election is called),” he said at a press conference in Parliament today.

During the 15th general election in 2022, Azizi ended Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah’s streak as Malaysia’s longest-serving MP after wresting the Gua Musang parliamentary seat for PN.

He defeated Tengku Razaleigh with a slim 163-vote majority in the BN stronghold, as PN swept all 14 parliamentary seats in Kelantan.

Azizi then snatched Nenggiri from BN in the state election last August with another slim victory as he defeated Ab Aziz Yusoff by 810 votes. Since the constituency’s formation in 2004, Nenggiri had always been held by BN.