PETALING JAYA: With all its other seats in the peninsula taken, PKR’s Hasni Abas (pic), a Malay language activist, is expected to go up against big gun Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein in the Sembrong parliamentary constituency.
Party vice-president Rafizi Ramli said they had held back in announcing three seats when the party’s 72 candidates in the peninsula were named last week.
“This is because the seats were also sought by other parties.
“DAP was asking for Sembrong, which is traditionally a PKR seat, Muda wanted Tapah while Malaysian Socialist Party (PSM) wanted Sungai Siput,” he told reporters at the PKR headquarters yesterday.
However, both Muda and PSM have been denied their wish.
Instead, party president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has nominated PKR vice-president K. Saraswathy to contest in Tapah and incumbent S. Kesavan to defend Sungai Siput.
“This left the Sembrong seat and I have been given the duty to announce the candidate,” said Rafizi.
“Hasni, the Parit Sulong PKR division chief, has to shoulder a big responsibility to beat Datuk Seri Hishammuddin there,” he said, jokingly adding that Hasni should not come back if he is defeated.
Hishammuddin, the son of former prime minister Tun Hussein Onn, has been Sembrong MP since 2004 and was Defence Minister in the previous government.Hasni received his early education in Batu Pahat before continuing his studies at Universiti Sains Malaysia in literature and political science.
He also holds a master’s degree in literature from Universiti Putra Malaysia and has been a senior official at Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka throughout his career.
