KUALA LUMPUR – Amanah has announced its candidates for the upcoming Pulai parliamentary seat and Simpang Jeram state seat by-elections, which will take place next month.
The candidates are two former aides of late minister Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub who tragically died on July 23, following a brain haemorrhage.
Amanah president Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu said in a statement today that Salahuddin’s former political secretary and the vice-chairperson of Amanah Johor, Suhaizan Kaiat, will be contesting in the Pulai constituency.
Meanwhile, engineer Nazri Abdul Rahman, who previously served as an aide to Salahuddin in the state constituency, will be running for the Simpang Jeram seat.
The official introduction of the candidates is scheduled to take place on August 23 at the Simpang Jeram state constituency in Johor, during an event organised in memory of the late Salahuddin.
Mohamad said the selection process for the candidates was carried out by an election committee led by Amanah’s vice-president Adly Zahari, secretary-general Datuk Hatta Ramli, vice-president Datuk Mahfuz Omar, and other key leaders from various divisions and state levels.
Suhaizan Kaiat, who also served as the Johor speaker between 2018 and 2022, brings experience and a strong political background to the table. Similarly, Nazri, who holds the position of deputy chief in Bakri Amanah, is expected to present a strong challenge in the by-elections.
The Election Commission has set the nomination day for both seats on August 26. Early voting is scheduled for September 5, followed by the polling day on September 9.
Anticipation is building around these by-elections, as both Amanah, under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) banner, and Perikatan Nasional (PN) are expected to vie for these seats.
The by-elections are expected to impact the nation’s political landscape significantly as PN hopes to ride on its ‘green wave’ while the unity government hopes to keep the southern part of the peninsular relatively free from PN.
In a separate development, Amanah rebuked Kelantan Menteri Besar Nassuruddin Daud over his remark that the two PH assemblymen in the state were against the Islamic struggle.
Kelantan Amanah’s legal bureau spokesman Hisham Fauzi pointed out that PAS did not have exclusive rights to the Islamic struggle.
“We urge the Kelantan MB to retract such a label and apologise,” he said in a statement on Facebook.
“Islam is not exclusively owned by PAS, but the entire ummah around the world,” he added.
In his Friday sermon yesterday, Nassuruddin said Amanah’s Dr Hafidzah Mustakim and Umno’s Syahbudin Hashim, the respective assemblymen for Kota Lama and Galas, were anti-Islam.
Hisham said PAS must remember it was once a minority party in the Kelantan assembly in 1978, and should not undermine opposition reps.
He added that PAS was following classical Islamic concepts of “kafir harbi” (non-Muslims who can be killed) and “kafir zimmi” (non-Muslims who are compliant with Islamic rule), which were no longer practical in this day and age.
“At Amanah, we feel these concepts must be re-evaluated and understood in a more global Islamic view, where ‘kafir harbi’ is no more,” he said. – The Vibes, August 19, 2023
