Terengganu BN touts ex-MB Ahmad Said as ‘poster boy’ for GE15

(FMT) – Terengganu Barisan Nasional (BN) is pushing former menteri besar Ahmad Said as its “poster boy” for the 15th general election (GE15) in a bid to wrest the state government from PAS.

Terengganu Umno secretary Rozi Mamat said Ahmad, who heads the state Umno and was menteri besar from 2008 to 2014, will be the coalition’s choice for menteri besar again if BN succeeds in recapturing Terengganu.

“We can’t have too many candidates as it will get messy,” Rozi told FMT.

“We’ve decided that Ahmad is the only one who will be BN’s ‘poster boy’ (in Terengganu). He is our ‘poster boy’, our ‘chief’, our ‘general’.”

He said Terengganu BN will contest on its own in GE15 and is confident of winning 16 to 17 seats in the 32-seat state legislative assembly, giving it a simple majority to form the state government.

In the 1999 general election, Terengganu BN lost 28 state seats to PAS.

It regained those 28 seats in the 2004 general election and went on to form the state government.

However, the state BN, led by Ahmad Razif Rahman, lost in GE14 after securing only 10 seats against PAS’ 22.

Rozi said he is confident BN will be able to regain Terengganu, claiming that PAS has failed to resolve numerous issues affecting the state since it gained power in 2018.

He admitted that the previous BN state government had its weaknesses, but promised that the coalition will do better if it is voted back in.

He also said Terengganu BN has no shortage of candidates to field in GE15 and that the present state leadership line-up is made up of 80% new faces.