KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 25 — Voters in Tambun, Perak will be electing not just their next MP, but also the country's next prime minister on November 19, according to the Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak, Pakatan Harapan (PH) election director for the parliamentary seat.
He told Utusan Malaysia in an interview published today that the PH candidate for Tambun, Penang-born Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, has a very high chance of winning the federal seat in the 15th general election despite being portrayed as an "outsider", compared to its incumbent MP Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu, who is Bersatu deputy president and also the former Perak mentri besar.
"Of course Anwar is a big name and Peja is the underdog. People say that Anwar is not local to the area and [Ahmad Faizal] even made the tagline ayor, ayaq.
"But to me, Tambun is picking a prime minister, not an MP. I was involved in Peja’s fall when he was the mentri besar and this time, I want to help cause his fall from being an MP,” he told the Malay newspaper.
Peja is the nickname for Ahmad Faizal.
Farhash also pointed out Tambun's voter demography comprises of some 65-66 per cent Malays, and added that "Anwar is no stranger to Malay voters”.
"The issue is that he’s not from here, only that he wants to contest here, but that is nothing extraordinary,” he was quoted as saying.
Farhash appeared to play down the perception that candidates who switched constituencies instead of defending those they won tend to perform poorly in an election by alluding to DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang, saying the latter "is always embarking on new adventures”.
"Actually, I have voiced out to the party leadership that big names should not sit in their constituencies but must go on to open up new locations. Leave it to the ‘juniors’ who are learning how to contest to compete in easier areas,” he was quoted as saying.
Anwar announced his candidacy for Tambun last Thursday, saying he is not like other leaders who would contest in a seat with a large safety buffer, but is willing to take risks in order to resolve the political issues in Perak.
The PH chairman and its nominee to be the next prime minister also said his coalition has identified Perak as a frontline state for GE15.
On September 28, Anwar revealed his intention that he had to pick areas held by PH "traitors" as a message that treachery in politics was not acceptable.
His rival is Ahmad Faizal, who won the Tambun parliamentary constituency in Election 2018 on a PKR ticket by a majority of 5,320 votes, defeating former finance minister II Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah from Umno and PAS’ Muhamad Zulkifli Mohamad Zakaria.
Ahmad Faizal and the rest of his party exited PH in early 2020 in a political gambit known as the 'Sheraton Move', later forming the Perikatan Nasional coalition with former foes from PH.
