KUALA BESUT, July 12 – The Barisan Nasional (BN) and PAS are involved in a straight fight for the Kuala Besut state seat in the by-election on July 24 in a repeat of the by-election held 34 years ago also during the Ramadan fasting month.
Civil engineer Tengku Zaihan Che Ku Abd Rahman, 37, is defending the seat for the BN while Endot alias Azlan Yusof, 48, of PAS is putting up the challenge.
Tengku Zaihan submitted his nomination papers at 9.10 am to returning officer A Rahim Jusoh at the nomination centre at the Kuala Besut Rakan Muda Complex. Endot handed in his papers seven minutes earlier.
In 1979, the BN and PAS were involved in a straight fight for the Kuala Besut seat in a by-election that was also held during Ramadan.
The current by-election has been necessitated by the death of assemblyman Dr A. Rahman Mokhtar of the BN on June 26.
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is the Kuala Besutby-election director for the BN, led some 3,000 party supporters in accompanying Tengku Zaihan to the nomination centre.
Endot, the PAS candidate, was accompanied by the party’s president, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, and a similar number of supporters.
Tengku Zaihan, who was clad in a blue Baju Melayu, was accompanied into the nomination centre by his proposer Datuk Wan Zakaria Abd Rahman and seconder Roslan Ayob.
Endot, who was attired in a green Baju Melayu, had Ayat Hadi Mamat as his proposer and Zulkarnain Abdullah as the seconder.
A slight drizzle from early morning did not deter the supporters of both parties from marching to the nomination centre with their candidates in an orderly manner under the watchful eyes of the police.
Tengku Zaihan is a civil engineer who was with the Drainage and Irrigation Department in Putrajaya and had served for five years at the Besut District office of the DID.
He hails from Kampung Nail, Kuala Besut, and had served the local community in his capacity as the district engineer after joining the DID 15 years ago.
Tengku Zaihan expressed his determination to retain the seat for the BN, saying he saw a good opportunity to do that in the straight fight.
“I foresee no problem in getting close to the people, as I have been doing so all this while,” he told reporters after the nomination.
Endot, a contractor and businessman, is the PAS treasurer for Besut. He hails from Kuala Besut and lives in Kampung Baru.
Endot said PAS was bent on its mission to achieve “16-16 Terengganu Baru” (A New Terengganu 16-16) by winning the by-election, referring to the number of seats that the BN and Pakatan Rakyat would have if PAS were to win the by-election.
The BN formed the Terengganu state government after winning 17 seats in the general election on May 5. PAS had won 14 seats and PKR, one.
This by-election has drawn great interest because a PAS victory would end in both the BN and Pakatan Rakyat having 16 seats each, resulting in a hung state assembly.
Advance voting for the by-election is on July 20 and polling on July 24.
The death of assemblyman Dr A Rahman Mokhtar of the BN on June 26 has necessitated the by-election.
The by-election in 1979, also during Ramadan, saw Datuk Wan Zakaria Wan Abdul Rahman of the BN beat Husin Jusoh of PAS by 797 votes. It was called after assemblyman Zakaria Muda died, also on June 26 in 1979.
Dr Rahman had won the seat in the general election on May 5 by beating Napisah Ismail of PAS by 2,434 votes.
The Kuala Besut state constituency has 17,683 voters, of which the Malays make up 17,463; Chinese, 125; and others, the rest.
The BN is using the slogan ‘Kuala Besut bertambah Biru’ to press for a bigger victory for the coalition while PAS intends to create a “16-16” stalemate.
– BERNAMA
