Shahidan more than capable but his time has passed, says Zahid

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, who has been dropped from Umno's 15th General Election (GE15) candidates list, is more than capable to run for the elections but his time has passed, says Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

"(He) is more than able but tempoh masanya telah berlalu (his time has passed)," Ahmad Zahid said.

The Umno president said this when met by the press after his corruption trial involving Yayasan Akalbudi (YAB) was vacated here on Wednesday (Nov 2).

He said the party has decided to replace Shahidan with another candidate after taking into consideration the needs of the local voters in Perlis as well as the state itself.

The announcement of Barisan candidates on Tuesday night saw Shahidan dropped as a candidate for the Arau parliamentary seat and replaced by Datuk Rozabil Abdul Rahman.

According to Shahidan, he has not yet held any discussions with the parties, but the parties were aware of what happened to him.

Sinar Harian reported that Shahidan still intended to run for the Arau parliamentary seat despite having to use another party's “ticket".

Shahidan, who is the Arau Umno division chief, said he had received many offers from other parties but had not yet finalised which political party he would represented.

Meanwhile, Perikatan Nasional’s candidate for Arau has been left vacant to make way for Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim to represent the coalition in the 15th General Election (GE15).

Perlis Perikatan chairman Mohd Shukri Ramli said the name of the candidate for the Arau parliamentary seat was vacated at the last minute, as negotiations at the federal level with Shahidan had not been finalised yet, reported Sinar Harian.

"Yes, it is true that there were negotiations with him (Shahidan). It all started when we met by chance at the airport last Monday.