PELABUHAN KLANG, April 10- Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim(Pic) is among four candidates shortlisted by the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) to contest in the hot state seat of Pelabuhan Klang in the 13th general election (GE13).
Shortlisting him for the state seat is said to be among the strategies adopted by the PKR to regain the seat after the former Asssemblyman from the party quit to support the Barisan Nasional (BN) in 2009 and later joined the BN in 2010. Port Klang PKR leaders and members, however, hoped that a local leader from the party would be fielded as the PKR candidate for the seat instead of Abdul Khalid.
Sources contacted by Bernama did not rule out the possibility that Abdul Khalid would defend his Ijok state seat, which he won in the 12th general election in 2008, and he still had the option to choose one of the two state seats. This development gave the indication that Abdul Khalid might be retained as the Selangor Menteri Besar if the opposition pact were to win over Selangor in the GE13.
An Exco member of PKR Youth wing, Irwan Ismail told reporters here today that Abdul Khalid was among the four candidates sortlisted by the PKR for the Pelabuhan Klang state seat. The name of the Selangor Menteri Besar’s political secretary, Faekah Husin, who was earlier said to be contesting for the seat, was not among the names shortlisted, he said.
Irwan said the selection of the right candidate for the Pelabuhan Klang state seat was crucial because it was a hot seat for the PKR after the Pelabuhan Klang Assemblyman, Badrul Hisham Abdullah, left the PKR in 2009.
Badrul Hisham won the seat on a PKR ticket in the 12th general election in 2008 with a majority of 4,407 votes, beating a candidate from the BN and another independent candidate, but he left the PKR in October 2009 to become an independent Assemblyman supporting the BN. He later joined Umno in May 2010.
Irwan hoped the PKR top leadership would choose the Port Klang coordinator Suhaimi Mohd Nor, who was also shortlisted as a candidate for the state seat. Abdul Khalid won the Ijok state seat in the 12th general election beating the BN candidate, Mohamed Sayuti Said, with a majority of 1,920 votes.
BERNAMA
