GOMBAK, July 30 — Perikatan Nasional (PN) candidate for the Sungai Tua state seat Hanif Jamaluddin appeared unfazed tonight by his task of defeating caretaker Selangor menteri besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari in the state election on August 12.

Touted as a potential "giant killer,” Hanif told a small crowd at a ceramah here that he would not have earned the title even if he were to win the three-cornered fight at Sungai Tua.

"After some information that was whispered to me, I’m not a giant killer because he [Amirudin] is not a giant anymore,” he told the group of no more than 50 people at the coalition’s Gombak Setia headquarters.

Hanif then said that even if he were to beat Amirudin next month, he would still not be the first person to defeat a sitting menteri besar.

Citing former Terengganu menteri besar, the late Tan Sri Wan Mokhtar Wan Ahmad’s loss in 1999 after 25 years of helming the state, Hanif said defeating Amirudin is not a pipe dream.

In 1999, Wan Mokhtar lost the Chukai state seat to PAS’ Awang Jusoh by 436 votes during the 10th general election that saw the Islamist party seize control of Terengganu from Barisan Nasional for a term.

Also present at the ceramah tonight were PN candidate and incumbent for Gombak Setia state seat Muhammad Hilman Idham, and former deputy Dewan Rakyat speaker Datok Mohd Rashid Hasnon.

Selangor is among six states that will go to polls this August 12.