Nik Aziz's swan song

For the past five elections since 1990, PAS has been victorious in the state of Kelantan.

The 13th general elections will mark the official start of "post-Nik Aziz" era.

While it is almost beyond doubts that PAS will retain the state in GE13, the question is whether it will brush past the line very closely, as what happened in 2004.

In the meantime, the state Barisan Nasional believes that Kelantanese have grown tired with the PAS regime and May 5 will be the day Kelantanese vote for a change of state administration.

There are two bright spots in PAS' line-up:

1. Menteri besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat will contest alongside his son for the first time,

2. The fielding of party veterans Mohd Apandi and Abdullah Yakub against BN state chairman Mustapa Mohamed who is running for both a parliamentary and a state seat.

Notably, there are 16 new faces in PAS' line-up this time, including doctors, lawyers, professors, young clerics, etc. Many senior incumbents have been dropped from the list with the remarkable exception of 82-year-old Nik Aziz defending his Chempaka state seat.

If there is a choice, Nik Aziz would have wanted to bow out of the race given his age. But in the face of aggressive challenges from the BN, the state administration is at stake if he is not in charge.

According to BN's election director Datuk Hassan Harun, this could have reflected the reality of PAS in Kelantan, because Kelantanese generally believe Nik Aziz will "drop off half way" if he remains the MB after the general elections.

Hassan pointed out that voters are now speculating who is going to take over Nik Aziz's place next. Nik Aziz's favourite next-in-line Husam Musa while still defending his Salor state seat, is also running for Putrajaya parliamentary seat, and is therefore seen as unlikely to take over the baton.

And because of this, the party's line-up features an usually large number of candidates from the Women and Youth wings--at four and six respectively.

Among the Youth candidates, deputy chairman Nik Mohamad Abduh bin Nik Abdul Aziz is undeniably the most eye-catching although he is only running for Pasir Mas parliamentary seat. It is not hard to see that this young man could be a likely successor of Nik Aziz.

Nik Abduh is among the six Youth Wing candidates running for three parliamentary and three state seats in GE13.

The hidden concerns of Kelantan Pakatan actually lie with PKR, which in 2008 won all three parliamentary seats and one of five state assembly seats the party contested. Other than the state chairman Ab Aziz who is seeking re-election in Ketereh state seat in 2013, all the other candidates are first-timers.

Although it should have been a good thing to field new faces, the candidates in Pengkalan Kubor, Kuala Balah and Guchil are either seeing the intrusion of independents or sabotage from within the party.

BN state chairman Mustapa Mohamed meanwhile predicts that Kelantan could see a change of regime after GE13, and the ruling coalition has good chances of winning at least 30 state assembly seats.

-Sin Chew Daily