Pua: Pakatan Harapan must field candidate in Sungai Besar

PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Harapan must field a candidate in the Sungai Besar by-election even if it leads to a three-cornered fight, says Selangor DAP chairman Tony Pua.

In a statement, Pua said feedback from the ground in Sungai Besar was that Pakatan Harapan supporters would not accept PAS as the Opposition representative to challenge the Barisan Nasional.

In fact, Pua said some voters have said that if the battle for Sungai Besar came down to PAS and BN, they would rather vote for BN, as they felt PAS had betrayed them by effectively killing Pakatan Rakyat.

The Petaling Jaya Utara MP also said issues such as 1MDB and the “donations” into Prime Minister Najib Razak’s personal accounts, should be the focus of the by-elections, but the people had no confidence that PAS would be vocal on these issues or take a firm stand against them.

“In fact, PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang had on numerous occasions said he was not interested in removing Najib,” Pua said, adding that Hadi instead wanted Najib to be given the chance to continue leading the country and PAS wanted to “advise” Umno and BN.

“Therefore, Pakatan Harapan must be represented in the by-election so that its numerous supporters can choose a party that truly opposes the reckless and corrupt BN government.”

Pua said a straight fight was unlikely to materialise due to Hadi’s refusal to negotiate with Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali.

“Hence, Selangor DAP will give our undivided support to the Amanah candidate which will represent Pakatan Harapan in the three-cornered fight for Sungai Besar.”

The DAP National Publicity secretary said while there were concerns that a three-cornered fight would weaken the Opposition, he believed wise voters would vote for Pakatan Harapan since only the Opposition pact could defeat BN.

He added that PAS, on its own, could not form the government and this was why he believed Sungai Besar voters would not waste their votes on a party that could not form the government.

The by-elections for the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar parliamentary seats were triggered by the deaths of their incumbents, Noriah Kasnon and Wan Mohammad Khair-il Anuar Wan Ahmad, in a helicopter crash in Sarawak earlier this month.

The by-elections will be held simultaneously on June 18.

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