PAS not keen on Zaid for Kota Baru

The talk that former law minister Zaid Ibrahim would be contesting on a PAS ticket was not raised in any PAS meeting.

Hawkeye, FMT

Former law minister Zaid Ibrahim does not figure in PAS plan for the Kota Baru parliamentary seat.

PAS deputy secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan said the matter was not raised at any of its state or national strategic meetings.

“I can categorically state that the issue concerning Zaid was not raised at any of our special meetings. I also know who are the PAS candidates by the virtue of me attending such meetings,” Takiyuddin said in an interview.

A state PAS veteran who also confirmed what Takiyuddin is saying, said that Zaid did initiate a series of discussions with the state PAS here previously.

However, there were issues about his health and his decision later to re-focus on his law firm – reputably the largest in the country, the veteran said.

There were speculations that Zaid had reportedly said that he did not mind contesting the seat again on a PAS ticket.

The issue has also something to do with the indications that the voters in the Kota Baru constituency – long hailed as a Umno enclave – will be switching back to the party after voting in PAS strategist Wan Rahim Wan Abdullah in the last election.

Wan Rahim is reportedly either retiring or seeking to contest the Gua Musang parliamentary seat.

Mohamad Fatmi Che Salleh, who is one of the political secretaries to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, is earmarked as the likely Barisan Nasional candidate for the seat. He contested in 2008 and lost to Wan Rahim.

His political nemises has always been Zaid, who had blocked the former from clinching the Kota Baru Umno division head post in the early 2000s when Zaid was still in Umno.