After arrest warrant, Terengganu exco says had events to attend, promises to show up in court now

KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 — With an arrest warrant now out on him for failing to appear in court as a witness, Terengganu state executive councillor Mohd Nor Hamzah has explained that he had other prior commitments for the entire morning yesterday.

The Terengganu Election Court was yesterday scheduled to continue hearing Mohd Nor testify in a case involving Terengganu Umno’s election petition, which sought to annul the 15th general election (GE15) result where the Marang parliamentary seat was won by PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang.

Upon application by Barisan Nasional and Umno’s Marang candidate Jasmira Othman’s lawyer, the court ordered Mohd Nor to be arrested.

But taking to Facebook yesterday afternoon to clear the air about the “sensational news” regarding him, Mohd Nor said he had cooperated with the law firm representing BN’s GE15 candidate for Marang and had testified in court on Tuesday afternoon.

“I attended in the afternoon last Saturday. Court proposed I come on Wednesday but I replied that there is the State Legislative Assembly sitting on Wednesday. I cannot attend.

“Wednesday afternoon, my PA informed that the BN lawyer proposed for me to attend at 10am Thursday but I proposed Thursday afternoon as I have many programme commitments on Thursday morning...RAKYAT MESTI DIUTAMAKAN!!” the Bukit Payung state assemblyman wrote, saying that the public must be prioritised.

He listed the programmes as being the officiating of a free hair cut event in the Bukit Payung constituency at 9am yesterday, followed by a 10.15am event which he attended to accompany the Terengganu menteri besar, an 11.30am event to officiate the closing ceremony of a programme with disabled persons, and a 12.30pm officiating of the closing ceremony of another event.

“God willing, I have promised the BN lawyer to attend on 19th March 10am,” he said in his Facebook post, when saying he would show up in court on March 19 when the hearing resumes.

On January 3, Terengganu Umno had filed the election petition and sought to have the GE15 results for the Marang seat nullified.

Terengganu Umno chief Datuk Seri Ahmad Said was previously reported saying that the petition includes allegations of bribing of voters through the Terengganu state government’s distribution of financial aid through the i-Pension, i-Belia and i-Student initiatives between November 15 and 17.

Polling day for GE15 was on November 19, 2022.

In the four-corner fight in GE15, Hadi won with a 41,729 vote-majority against Jasmira, while the two other candidates from Pakatan Harapan and Parti Pejuang Tanah Air had considerably less votes than the pair.