JOHOR BARU: Kluang Amanah hopes to contest in the upcoming Mahkota by-election following the death of its incumbent, Datuk Sharifah Azizah Syed Zaid, on Aug 2.
Amanah Kluang founder and chief Dr Mohd Zuhan Mohd Zain said the decision was based on three detailed analyses conducted by the district branch concerning the recent political situation.
“First, the Johor government is not a unity government like the Federal Government and several other states. We are not incorporated into the state government; there are no exco members from Pakatan, no councillors, and not even a village chief.
“Secondly, a recent statement made by Kluang Umno division chief (Datuk Md Jais Sarday) that he does not want to cooperate with one of the Pakatan’s component parties.
“This statement has deeply hurt our grassroots supporters.
“We won the Mahkota seat during the 14th General Election (GE14) and based on the data from the 15th General Election (GE15), the support and confidence of the people in Kluang towards Pakatan is currently very strong, indicating that we can win comfortably,” he said during a press conference at a restaurant in Taman Maju here yesterday.
Asked whether he would offer himself as a candidate for the by-election, Mohd Zuhan said he will leave the decision to the state and central leadership.
He added that Amanah Kluang will comply if the central leadership decides not to allow the party to contest in the by-election.
“We hope our analyses will be seriously discussed by the Pakatan and Barisan central leaderships regarding the current situation in Johor,” he said.
In the Johor state election held in March 2022, Sharifah Azizah from Barisan won the Mahkota seat with 16,611 votes, recording a majority of 5,166 votes.
She defeated Pakatan’s Taqiuddin Cheman, who received 11,445 votes, Perikatan’s Mohamad Nor Lingan, who garnered 7,614 votes, and Warisan’s Mohamed Noor Suleiman, who obtained 555 votes.
Earlier, the Election Commission announced it will meet on Aug 13 to decide on the date for the by-election for the Mahkota state seat.
