SEREMBAN: PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim says if Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate Dr S. Streram wins in the Rantau by-election this time, he will represent all communities in the constituency, in line with the principle of justice that the party has championed for the past 20 years.
He said Streram was chosen as a candidate in the Malay-majority seat because the party had kept its promise to give the anaesthetist, who had been denied his right to contest there in the last General Election, another chance to do so.
“Islam emphasises on fiding a solution based on justice not the colour of the skin ... that is why, even when choosing the candidate in Rantau, we as a party with principles and idealism must defend those principles.
“We cannot betray the trust placed on us, that is why we have defended fielding an Indian candidate, Streram, in Rantau,“ he said during a special address in conjunction with the celebration of PKR’s 20th anniversary at Dataran Rantau here, last night.
Also present were Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who is also PKR Advisory Council chairman, PKR Deputy President Datuk Seri Mohamad Azmin Ali, Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, who is also PH secretary-general, and PKR Advisory Council deputy chairman Syed Husin Ali.
Meanwhile, Mohamad Azmin said that with the honesty and diligence that PKR has upheld in the past 20 years, he had placed expectations for the Rantau seat to fall to PH for the very first time.
“We have convinced the people at the national level. I’m sure that we, InsyaAllah, will also be able to convince the voters in Rantau that the person who can bring our voice to the Negri Sembilan state assembly is Streram, the PH and PKR candidate,“ he said.
He also called on the entire party machinery to work together in the spirit of PKR’s 20th anniversary to create success, beginning from the Rantau by-election.
Meanwhile, DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang said that if PH managed to win the Rantau seat this time, it would be one of the most valuable victories, and a gift to the reform movement championed by PKR all this while.
The contest on April 13 will see a four-cornered fight between Streram, former Negri Sembilan mentri besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan (BN), and two independent candidates, R. Malarvizhi and Mohd Nor Yassin.
The by-election has been necessitated by the Federal Court’s dismissal of an appeal filed by Mohamad to set aside the Nov 16 Seremban Election Court decision declaring his unopposed victory in the 14th general election (GE14) null and void.
In GE14, Mohamad was declared the winner of the seat for Barisan Nasional (BN) after Dr Streram, the potential Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate, was prohibited from entering the nomination centre to submit his nomination papers because he did not have a pass issued by the EC. — Bernama
