KUALA LUMPUR, July 2- Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has been appointed Barisan Nasional (BN) election director for the impending Kuala Besut state by-election.
Muhyiddin said he was informed of the appointment by Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak before the prime minister left for London for a working visit.
Muhyiddin said he would be assisted by Second Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh, who is also Besut Umno division head, as deputy election director.
“We are ready to face the by-election. We are banking on Idris’s strength and experience as former Terengganu menteri besar to contribute significantly to the BN’s victory in the by-election.
“We hope voters in the constituency will continue to support BN,” he told reporters after chairing a Cabinet Committee on Foreign Workers and Illegal Immigrants meeting at Parliament House here, today.
The Kuala Besut state seat fell vacant after its assemblyman, Dr A Rahman Mokhtar died of lung cancer at the Sultanah Nur Zahirah Hospital in Kuala Terengganu on Tuesday.
Two-term assemblyman A. Rahman, 55, of the BN retained the seat after beating Napisah Ismail of PAS with a 2,434-vote majority in the 13th general election on May 5.
In another development, Muhyiddin said there was no need for Election Commission (EC) chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusoff to resign over complaints on the quality of indelible ink used in the 13th general election (GE13) on May 5.
“Let the MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) gets into the bottom of the matter. The government will not intervene in matters that come under the MACC jurisdiction.
“If there are certain things that have to be investigated, I am sure the EC will cooperate,” he said.
The MACC was reported to have set up a team to investigate whether there was a criminal breach of trust in the purchase of indelible ink by the EC.
– BERNAMA
