Bring it on, Johor Bersatu tells Anwar over plan to contest in Pagoh

PENGERANG: Johor Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia welcomes Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (pic) to contest in Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s Pagoh constituency in the 15th General Election (GE15).

Its information chief Mohd Solihan Badri shrugged off the PKR president's hint, saying that it was normal for a politician to have an ambition.

“It is just a strategy but if Anwar really wants to contest in Pagoh, then Johor Bersatu will not make it easy for him to win the parliamentary seat.

“We will defend Pagoh as it is an important seat for us in the state and Bersatu would go all out in GE15, ” he added.

Solihan, who is also the state works, transportation and infrastructure committee chairman, said this when met after visiting a directional ramp construction site project near the Penawar exit toll here on Monday (March 22).

On Saturday, Anwar who is the Port Dickson MP, said it was still too early for him to decide which parliamentary constituency he will contest in the next general election but hinted that he is considering 15 seats, including Pagoh.

He said this when asked whether he was looking to return to Permatang Pauh, the seat that he first won in 1982.

"I have 15 parliamentary constituencies asking me to contest there in the next general election, including Pagoh," he said after a programme with PKR supporters here Saturday (March 20).

Earlier during his speech, a supporter asked him to return to Permatang Pauh and contest the constituency in GE15.

The Opposition leader had never failed to win the seat from 1982 until 1999 before he was jailed for sodomy.

The former deputy prime minister's return to politics after his disqualification expired was a victorious run in the Permatang Pauh by-election in 2008.

He won the seat again in GE13 but was disqualified in 2015 after he was found guilty in a second sodomy case.

Muhyiddin has been the Pagoh MP for six terms where in the 2018 general election, he won with a majority of 6,927 votes beating Umno's Ismail Mohamed and PAS' Ahmad Nawfal Mahfodz.