TERKINI : ADAKAH INI CALONNYA?

Pakatan to choose between PAS, PKR for Merlimau By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal January 30, 2011 Shamsul has reportedly thrown his hat into the ring. — file pic SHAH ALAM, 30 Jan — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) national leaders will meet soon to decide on whether to field a PAS or PKR candidate for the March 6 Merlimau by-election. PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang confirmed today that key leaders from respective PR parties will discuss the matter “as soon as possible.” Hadi was coy when asked whether PAS had already decided on its candidate. “In Merlimau, we (PAS) have real people there, not shadows... [but] a lot of them (potential candidates),” he said. It is understood that while PR’s national leaders have yet to decide on the candidate, Malacca PR leaders are adamant on fielding PAS for the state seat PAS secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali said earlier today that he had been informed that majority of state party leaders want to retain the status quo with regards to which PR party should contest in Merlimau. He, however, declined to comment on Malacca PKR’s intentions in wanting to field their own candidate for the upcoming by-election. “I don’t know about that, but I am made to understand that the Malacca Pakatan wants PAS to contest,” Mustafa told reporters today. “But it is the Pakatan central leadership which will eventually decide on this.” He said Merlimau would come under greater focus after the Tenang by-election today. The Malaysian Insider understands that Malacca PKR is keen to field PKR Youth chief Shamsul Iskandar Mat Akin, as he is from Jasin. A state PKR meeting was held in the party’s Jasin headquarters last weekend, where it was agreed that Shamsul should contest. It is understood that his name has been sent to the party leadership for consideration. The Election Commission (EC) announced on Thursday that the Merlimau by-election would be held on March 6. Nomination day is February 26. It is the 15th by-election since Election 2008. EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Yusof said the electoral roll last updated on January 20 would be used. “The electoral roll has 10,679 registered voters, with 10,643 ordinary voters and 36 postal voters,” Abdul Aziz said in a statement. Jasin District Officer Roslan Eusoff will be the returning officer. The by-election, Abdul Aziz said, would cost the commission RM830,000 and involve 248 election workers. There are seven polling districts with 21 voting streams in Merlimau. The seat fell vacant after the incumbent, Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Datuk Mohamad Hidhir Abu Hasan, 54, died on January 20. In the 1999 general election, BN won with a majority of 2,252 votes; 5,087 votes in 2004; and 2,154 in 2008. Mohamad Hidhir, who was also a state executive councillor, defeated PAS’s Jasme Tompang in the March 2008 general election. Merlimau is located within the Jasin parliamentary constituency, a stronghold of BN, which won all the five state seats in Election 2008. ATAU INI CALONNYA...?