KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 4 — Spokesman for the unity government Fahmi Fadzil today scoffed at PAS’ description of last Saturday’s Kemaman by-election in Terengganu as a "referendum” on the Anwar administration.

Fahmi, who is the communications and digital minister, pointed out that the PAS victory in Kemaman did not come as a surprise when the Islamist party controls the entire Terengganu state.

"Then what about the Pelangai by-election? The unity government won Pelangai, a referendum on who?” he replied to reporters at the National Institute of Public Administration here when asked to comment on PAS secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddn Hassan’s description of Terengganu parliamentary by-election result as a referendum of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's leadership.

The Pelangai by-election on October 7 was won by the Barisan Nasional (BN), now a component of the coalition federal government led by Anwar.

The by-election for the Pahang state seat was called following the death of its incumbent assemblyman Datuk Johari Harun in a plane crash in Shah Alam, Selangor on August 17. Fahmi said the Anwar government is not worried about losing the Kemaman parliamentary seat to PAS since it still commands two-thirds support in the Dewan Rakyat.

Instead, he indicated that if anyone should be worried about the implication, it should be Bersatu secretary-general Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin as the Kemaman victory showed PAS was gaining ground and would challenge its Perikatan Nasional (PN) ally for the position of federal Opposition leader.

"I think PAS is gunning for the Opposition leader role.

"So I think the ones who should be concerned right now are Bersatu because it’s quite clear that PAS may push for or request for the position of Opposition leader in the future,” he added.

Yesterday, Takiyuddin claimed that the 37,000-vote majority won by PAS in the Kemaman by-election was a referendum on the public’s disapproval of Anwar’s leadership of the country.

Despite it being a vote in an overwhelmingly Malay state controlled by his party, he said the victory is an endorsement of the Islamist party’s candidate who is also Terengganu Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar, and signals the surge in public support for the PN federal Opposition coalition.

Ahmad Samsuri won the by-election for the Kemaman parliamentary seat in the state for PAS with a whopping vote-majority of more than 37,000 votes, based on official results from the Election Commission.

In the straight fight against Barisan Nasional candidate Gen (Rtd) Tan Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor who won 27,778 votes, Samsuri won 64,998 votes with a voting majority of 37,220 votes.