State polls: Annuar Musa has no intention to contest, says Hadi

MARANG: Former Umno secretary-general Tan Sri Annuar Musa has no intention to contest in the upcoming state polls although his name was in the PAS shortlist, says Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang.

The PAS president said that he believes the former Ketereh MP will play a more suitable role at the federal level.

"His position will be decided by the state (Kelantan) party leadership. However, we have agreed that he has a more suitable role at the national level with a larger role as he is a big figure," he was quoted saying by Sinar Harian.

Abdul Hadi made the remarks after receiving a visit from Perikatan Nasional chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin at his residence on Saturday (July 8) evening.

This comes after Annuar – the Muafakat Nasional president – joined PAS recently.

On being fielded as a candidate in the upcoming state polls, Annuar had said that he should be considered the last choice as a PAS candidate in the coming state polls.

He expressed his willingness to accept any decision made by the party leadership but emphasised that his personal participation is not crucial as he joined not to be a candidate, but to fight for the interests of religion and the Malay nation.

“It doesn’t matter if I don’t contest, as long as Umno doesn’t win. If given a mandate to contest, I need to discuss with the PAS leadership, to find out for what purpose I have been entrusted to do so,” said Annuar.

“If not, you can just give opportunities to young people or candidates among PAS members who have been with this party for a long time, after all, I am still new in PAS,” he had added.

Annuar said that his decision to join PAS was not an easy one given that he had devoted himself to Umno for 50 years.

Perikatan is expected to contest all seats; with PAS said to be contesting 126 seats, followed by Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) with 83 seats and Gerakan with 36 seats.