Umno's Hasni named BN's Tg Piai by-election director, no word on candidate

JOHOR BARU: Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has named state chief Datuk Hasni Mohammad (pic) as the Barisan Nasional Tanjung Piai by-election director.

He also named Tanjung Piai Umno division chief Datuk Jefridin Atan as the operation director.

However, Zahid, who is the Bagan Datoh MP, did not reveal Barisan's candidate for the by-election.

He would only say that Barisan would officially reveal its candidate before Nov 2, the nomination date for the by-election.

"We know that Tanjung Piai traditionally belongs to MCA, but we know that almost 57% of voters in the constituency are Malays where Umno wants a change, but MCA still wants to hold it.

"But nothing is impossible.

"However, Umno must not sideline MCA and the Chinese voters there and uphold our spirit of brotherhood," he said, adding that Barisan was still discussing the choice of candidate," said Zahid in his speech during the Johor Umno convention held at a hotel here on Saturday (Oct 5).

The Tanjung Piai seat fell vacant after the death of its MP Datuk Dr Md Farid Md Rafik on Sept 21 from complications following a heart attack.

Farid, 42, who was also Tanjung Piai Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia division vice-chief, won the seat in the last general election after beating MCA's Wee Jeck Seng and PAS' Nordin Othman with a majority of 524 votes.

The Election Commission has announced that the by-election will be held on Nov 16, while nomination day would fall on Nov 2 and early voting is on Nov 12.- Star