While PAS continues to hail newly elected Kemaman MP Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar as a future prime minister, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang questioned whether the former would also become the Islamist party's president.
Lim indicated a belief that Samsuri would be able to steer PAS towards the centre.
"The question now is whether Abdul Hadi Awang will step down as PAS president for Samsuri to take over to lead a more moderate and open-minded PAS, which divorces itself from the hate speech and lies, falsehoods and fake news which PAS had been identified (with) since leaving Pakatan Rakyat in 2015," he said in a statement today.
"Samsuri is an aeronautical engineer. Will he take PAS to a new era more relevant to Malaysia’s realities and needs?" he added.
Lim and Hadi have an adversarial relationship, with both labelling each other's parties as extremist.
Samsuri, 53, is serving his second term as the Terengganu menteri besar and as a PAS vice-president.
He hails from Besut, Terengganu and has a PhD in aerospace engineering.
He was formerly a university lecturer and came to prominence when he served as Hadi’s political secretary in 2008 at the age of 38.
‘Will consider’
On Saturday, he won the Kemaman by-election, with a vote share of 70.1 percent.
During the campaign, Perikatan Nasional repeatedly touted Samsuri as a future prime minister candidate.
The newly elected federal lawmaker, however, downplayed any personal ambitions for the post.
“It has never been my objective when I became a politician to take up such a high position.
“However, in the future, if I am entrusted by the party and the rakyat, I will consider it,” he said. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.