Retired Miti officer to take on BN’s Tok Pa in Jeli

A PPBM source says the candidate was chosen as he lives in Jeli, a plus factor with the voters who prefer someone accessible to them.

PETALING JAYA: A retired senior officer of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) will represent PPBM to take on the caretaker minister Mustapa Mohamed for the Jeli parliamentary seat, a PPBM source said.

“We believe our candidate can create an upset. If not, at least he will give Mustapa a run for his money,” the source told FMT, declining to reveal the retiree’s identity.

The source said PPBM had done its ground work and felt the retiree was the ideal candidate, even in a three-cornered fight with the entry of PAS.

“Our candidate lives in the Jeli constituency which is an important criterion for his selection. Voters there prefer an MP who is easily accessible to them,” the source said.

Mustapa, who is widely called Tok Pa in Kelantan, first won the Jeli seat in 1995 after defeating a Semangat 46 candidate Zianon Abdin Ali.

However, in 1999, he lost the seat to Mohd Apandi Mohamed of PAS. He managed to wrest it back in 2004, and then successfully defended it in the following two general elections.

PAS is expected to field Apandi again in the constituency which has a 98% Malay electorate. -FMT