PAS wants all members to vote MCA over coalition ally Berjasa

TG PIAI POLLS | PAS says it will ask members to vote for MCA in the Tanjung Piai by-election over its own Gagasan Sejahtera component party Berjasa.

PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan (photo) said this was because Berjasa entered the by-election without PAS' endorsement.

"What I can say is Berjasa did not get the blessing from PAS. Even though Berjasa is part of Gagasan Sejahtera, we had advised them not to field a candidate but they did it anyway as it was their wish to do so.

"We have instructed all PAS members not to vote for Berjasa - not a single vote. All must vote for MCA," he told journalists after the nomination process for the by-election at Dewan Jubli Intan Sultan Ibrahim, Pontian today.

PAS leads the Gagasan Sejahtera coalition, together with allies Berjasa and Ikatan.

While PAS does not have an official pact with MCA, it is in an alliance with Umno through the Muafakat Nasional alliance and has therefore adopted a friendly approach to Umno's BN allies.

Umno is the major party in BN, together with MCA and MIC.

Earlier today, Berjasa fielded its president Dr Badhrulhisham Abdul Aziz in the Tanjung Piai by-election.

PAS has decided to back BN's candidate Wee Jeck Seng, who is from MCA and the two-term MP there from 2008 to 2018.

Wee will try to wrest the seat from Bersatu, whose incumbent MP Mohamed Farid Md Rafik passed away from a heart attack in September.

Bersatu has fielded its Tanjung Piai division chief Karmaine Sardini to defend the seat.

Three other contenders are also vying for the parliamentary constituency, namely Gerakan's Wendy Subramaniam and independent candidates Ang Chuan Lock and Faridah Aryani Abd Ghaffar.

In the last general election, Bersatu's Md Farid garnered 21,255 votes against MCA's Wee, who received 20,731 votes, winning by a 524-vote margin.

A third candidate, Berjasa's Nordin Othman, who contested under the PAS logo, received 2,962 votes.

Berjasa believes it can play spoiler by contesting in the by-election but Takiyuddin dismissed this, stating that the fact that Berjasa could garner almost 3,000 votes in the last general election was due to PAS' support.

"Berjasa used PAS' flag and they got more than 2,900 votes. But this time, they are going it alone so we will see how many votes they can get," he said.

Takiyuddin said he believed those votes, many of which were from PAS members, will go to MCA in this by-election.

Campaigning for the Tanjung Piai by-election officially begins today and voters will go to the polls on Nov 16. - Mkini