PAS division to ignore Pakatan consensus and field candidate in Penanti

By Ariffuddin Ishak, The Star

The Permatang Pauh PAS division will field a candidate in the Penanti by-election although the party’s central leadership has disagreed with the move.

Division chairman Omar Hassan said the move had received the “green light” from Penang PAS.

He said the division would stand by its decision to contest.

“We are not doing this for personal gain but for the interest of Pakatan Rakyat.

The Penanti state seat was vacated by Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin who resigned on April 16.

PKR has announced Mansor Othman as its candidate.

An independent candidate, Aminah Abdullah, a former Penang PKR Wanita chief, has also expressed her intention to contest.

Barisan Nasional will decide next week whether or not it will contest.

Omar said: “It is our responsibility to champion the people of this constituency. We feel responsible to live up (to expectations).

“We realise that the central leadership is against the decision but God willing, as long as we have not named the candidate, there is still room for discussions,” he said.

It is learnt that there was a mutual agreement in Pakatan that a candidate standing to contest in a by-election must be from the party that contested in the constituency in last year’s general election.

Omar said there was a need for the agreement to be revised in this case.