PUTRAJAYA, Oct 16 — Parti Amanah Negara president Mohamad Sabu said last night that Pakatan Harapan (PH) was still undecided whether to let his party take a stab at contesting the Putrajaya seat instead of PKR.
Following public lobbying by grassroots to let Amanah contest in Putrajaya that was last contested by Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, the leader known as Mat Sabu said the only thing certain will be PH's presence here.
"Whatever it is, there will be a Pakatan Harapan candidate here," he told reporters shortly after a fundraising dinner for Amanah's "road to Putrajaya" in IOI Resort City just outside the federal administrative capital's border.
Also present were Federal Territory (FT) Amanah chief Datuk Mohd Hatta Md Ramli, Amanah Youth chief Hasbie Muda, and PKR Youth chief Adam Adli Abd Halim.
Barisan Nasional's (BN) Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor has been the incumbent MP for Putrajaya since the seat's inception in the 11th general election.
In 2018, then PH component Bersatu placed academic Samsu Adabi Mamat in a three-corner fight against BN and PAS. Tengku Adnan won by a 3,372-vote majority.
In 2013 and 2008, the seat had been straight fights between BN and PAS.
PKR last contested the seat in 2004, with its candidate Abdul Rahman Othman garnering a mere 540 votes out of 5,079 registered voters.
On Tuesday, several Amanah division and wing chiefs released a statement decrying the seat negotiation process for the FT seats, saying PH is reneging on a previous agreement to allow Amanah to contest three seats — Putrajaya, Titiwangsa and Bandar Tun Razak.
The previous agreement within FT PH in March 2021 proposed that PKR would contest four seats and DAP five, in return.
If Amanah were to contest Putrajaya, the candidate may likely be the Youth chief for FT PH and FT Amanah, Asmaaliff Abdul Adam, who organised the fundraising dinner last night and delivered a speech vowing to address several issues faced by voters here.
In his speech, Asmaaliff highlighted the transportation and parking woes, lack of opportunities for tuition classes for students, and the urban poverty among residents in densely-populated areas such as Presint 5,6, 9 and 11.
"Ku Nan has long represented the people here, he has never lost. But we have seen his majority dwindle ... If we work hard, I am confident we can topple him this time," he said to applause, referring to the drop of Tengku Adnan's majority between 2013 (5,541 votes) and 2018.
Malay Mail understands Tengku Adnan will continue to contest the seat after the Court of Appeal set aside his corruption conviction in July last year. In November of the same year, the prosecution withdrew its challenge against the acquittal.
Bersatu's education minister Datuk Mohd Radzi Md Jidin, who lost in Ketereh to BN's Tan Sri Annuar Musa in 2018, is expected to throw his hat in the ring as well.
Parliament was dissolved on Monday, and the Election Commission will meet on October 20 to decide on the dates for Nomination and Polling Days for the 15th general election which should be held within 60 days of the dissolution.
