KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 26 — The upcoming Tanjung Piai by-election is an opportunity for Umno and PAS to solidify and publicly promote their new union, Singapore’s the Straits Times reported today.
Policy consultancy Bower Group Asia's director Adib Zalkapli told ST that the two Malay-Muslim parties would be able to work together at the branch level during the campaign period.
“It's a perfect opportunity for the alliance to further integrate at the branch level by campaigning together on a black-and-white platform after the signing of the charter.
“Johor is also symbolically an important state as the birthplace of Umno,” he was quoted by ST.
While PAS is ready to support the candidate chosen by Barisan Nasional (BN), Umno deputy Johor chief Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said the choice of candidate would be crucial.
“Our priority is to solidify the Malay vote as distrust from Chinese is high. But unlike elsewhere where Chinese voters completely abandoned us, Wee got 30 per cent of their support last year.” he told ST, referring to BN’s former Tanjung Piai MP Datuk Seri Wee Jeck Sen from MCA.
The Tanjung Piai seat was left vacant after the unexpected death of Datuk Dr Mohamed Farid Md Rafik.
The 42-year-old former MP and deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department died after suffering from a heart attack in his hometown of Serkat in Tanjung Piai, near Pontian.
Dr Mohamed Farid, who was from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), had won the seat in the last general election with 21,255 votes with a slim majority of 524 against Wee, while PAS’ Nordin Othman garnered 2,962 votes.
Meanwhile, PAS had pledged its support towards any candidate fielded by BN in the by-election, including those from MCA, the New Straits Times reported.
Its president Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah said PAS would give its cooperation to BN though the matter has not yet been discussed.
“PAS will cooperate with BN on this like what we have done in previous by-elections. Based on the last election, the seat (Tanjung Piai) belonged to BN, so chances of winning are higher (for BN).
The Election Commission will be meeting on Oct 1 to decide the dates for nomination and polling.
