Selat Klang rep 'disappointed' with Bersatu over Kapar seat loss

 

Selat Klang assemblyperson Abdul Rashid Asari admitted his disappointment with the way Bersatu treated him to the point he felt as if the party no longer cared about him.

To make matters worse, the former Selangor Bersatu chairperson claimed that a written agreement reached by the three parties in Perikatan Nasional had been violated.

Explaining the allegation, Rashid said ahead of the 15th general election in 2022, Bersatu together with PAS and Gerakan had agreed on the distribution of seats in Selangor, including the Kapar parliamentary seat.

The seat, said Rashid, had been given to Bersatu.

“However, during the final meeting to determine the distribution of seats, PAS claimed the Kapar seat and ignored the agreement that was made before that, due to political manipulation,” he said at a press conference in Shah Alam today.

Rashid, who was once a Selangor senior exco when Bersatu was part of Pakatan Harapan, became the latest representative from PN to declare support for the coalition government.

The move by the lawyer in his early 70s is considered surprising because previously only MPs defected from PN to support the government.

Selangor Bersatu chairperson Azmin Ali

Commenting further, Rashid said in the meeting before GE15, no one paid attention to his arguments and instead took drastic decisions without consideration that Bersatu should be allowed to contest in Kapar.

“I am trying my best to defend the Kapar parliamentary seat from being handed over to PAS because it is certain that the next general election will come and PAS will claim the seat at any time.

“In the end, Bersatu will lose a valuable and safe parliamentary seat.

“I also tried my best to defend the dignity of Bersatu division heads who deserved to be nominated but were ignored by the party’s top leadership,” he said.

‘Some want more power’

As a result of the rejection, Rashid said he was insulted and despised for allegedly failing to name Bersatu leaders as candidates before he was finally sacked as Selangor Bersatu chairperson.

“I took this drastic decision because I felt I was no longer needed by Bersatu,” he said.

Since 2008, a PKR candidate has held the Kapar seat, winning with a comfortable majority.

However, in the last general election, PAS fielded a candidate there on behalf of PN, namely Dr Halimah Ali.

Halimah wrested the seat from PKR’s incumbent, Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid with an 11,782 votes majority.

Rashid added that his actions were also motivated by the unhappiness of certain parties who tried to mobilise efforts to dismiss him.

“This is an internal party issue, maybe some are trying to gain more power in the party so they are conspiring to dismiss me,” he said.

For the record, Rashid’s position as Selangor Bersatu chairperson is currently filled by former Selangor menteri besar Azmin Ali.

Previously, Rashid expressed his displeasure with Bersatu when it was led by a certain individual who “only joined the party a day or two ago”.

Although he did not mention any name, it is understood that Rashid was referring to Azmin, who is also the former deputy president of PKR.

Azmin joined Bersatu after the fall of the Harapan government following the Sheraton Move in 2020.