Penang PAS man accuses Gerakan president of lying to Perikatan over Bayan Lepas candidate selection

GEORGE TOWN, July 28 — The Perikatan Nasional (PN) tussle for the Bayan Lepas seat in Penang between its two component parties continued today with a state PAS leader accusing Gerakan president Datuk Dominic Lau Hoe Chai of deception.

Tanjong PAS committee member Anas Soffy Abd Wahid said Lau lied to Penang PN members about being transparent in seat allocations for the August 12 state elections.

“I reject Lau’s claims that the process of candidate selection was transparent because the PAS candidates for Penang signed by PAS secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan clearly named Iszuree Ibrahim as the Bayan Lepas candidate,” Anas Soffy, who is also a member of the Penang PAS election committee, said in a statement today.

He was responding to Lau’s denial of using connections to be named the PN candidate for the Bayan Lepas state seat, pointing out that the Gerakan man sits on the coalition’s powerful presidential council.

According to Anas Soffy, Lau who is the Penang PN chairman had asked PAS and Bersatu to let Gerakan contest in six seats during discussions.

The six state seats are said to have a mixed racial composition and are listed as Machang Bubuk,Bukit Tengah, Datok Keramat, Sungai Pinang, Batu Uban and Pantai Jerejak.

The PAS politician claimed Lau had promised that Gerakan would not contest any of the 15 Malay-majority seats.

“Based on his promise, the discussions on the allocation of the 15 Malay-majority seats in Penang were only held between PAS and Bersatu,” Anas Soffy said.

He said PAS and Bersatu had also signed a memorandum of understanding on the division of the Malay-majority seats between them.

“PAS and Bersatu did not submit any candidates for the six mixed seats Gerakan asked for to fulfil the promises made during the seat division meeting,” he said.

He accused Lau of breaking his word by naming himself as a candidate in Teluk Ayer Tawar in the beginning, adding that PAS and Bersatu had strongly opposed that decision.

“Penang PAS and Bersatu felt betrayed by Lau when he failed to fulfil his promise and all questions we put in the Penang PN leadership WhatsApp group were ignored by Lau,” he said.

Anas Soffy claimed that Lau later changed his mind, from running for Teluk Ayer Tawar to Bayan Lepas.

“When his candidacy for Bayan Lepas was not announced during the announcement ceremony in Pongsu Seribu, it was clear proof that he had broken his promise to Penang PN leaders,” he said.

He accused Lau of wanting to contest in a Malay-majority seat because he was afraid of facing bitter political rival DAP in the state election.

“As members of Penang PN, we are deeply embarrassed to have a chairman who lacks integrity.

“How can we rely on a leader who is indecisive and who breaks promises to lead Penang PN into the upcoming elections?” he asked.

Penang is among six states to head to the polls on August 12. Nominations are tomorrow and early voting is on August 8.

Lau will be facing incumbent Bayan Lepas assemblyman Azrul Mahathir Aziz from Amanah, a party under the Pakatan Harapan coalition.