KOTA BAHARU, Aug 27 — Senator Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki is leaving it to the Umno top leadership to decide whether he will be among the potential party candidates for Barisan Nasional (BN) or not for the coming Pengkalan Kubor state seat by-election.
Asyraf Wajdi, who is also the president of Yayasan Dakwah Islamiah Malaysia (Yadim), said what was important was the candidate’s ability to win the seat for Barisan Nasional so as to continue the legacy of its late incumbent assemblyman, Datuk Noor Zahidi Omar who passed away last Wednesday.
“The message is clear that we need to continue the tradition of providing service and the legacy of the good work of the late Noor Zahidi,” he told reporters at the ‘Fly the Jalur Gemilang’ campaign in conjunction with the country’s Independence anniversary celebration, here, yesterday.
Asyraf Wajdi said whether he would be chosen or not, as an Umno supreme council member, he would help ensure that BN retained the Pengkalan Kubor seat. Asyraf Wajdi, however, felt that a number of potential candidates with an Islamic religious background and from Tumpat could also be considered for the by-election.
He also said that it was not wrong for opposition party, PAS or Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) as an honourable party, to make way for Umno and BN to continue representing the state seat as it had not even been three years into the current term.
“Based on goodwill, this will not only reduce costs but could also be a new political model for the country, hence avoiding unhealthy polemic each time comes an election,” he said.
Asyraf Wajdi had once been fielded for the Tumpat parliamentary seat, facing the then PAS secretary-general Datuk Kamarudin Jaafar in the 12th general election in 2008, but he lost.
Noor Zahidi, 57, the Pengkalan Kubor assemblyman for three terms and Tumpat Umno division chief for four terms, died from liver cancer at a hospital in Guangzhou, China on July 20.
In the 13th general election last year, he retained the seat for BN when he defeated PKR candidate Saharun Ibrahim and an Independent, Izat Bukhary Ismail Bukhary, with a 1,736-vote majority.
– BERNAMA
