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Johor Bersatu says confident of defending Tg Piai after MP’s death

Mazlan Bujang said today Bersatu is confident that the party will defend the Tanjung Piai parliamentary seat, following the death of its incumbent MP and deputy minister Datuk Dr Md Farid Md Rafik. . — Picture by Roysten Rueben
Mazlan Bujang said today Bersatu is confident that the party will defend the Tanjung Piai parliamentary seat, following the death of its incumbent MP and deputy minister Datuk Dr Md Farid Md Rafik. . — Picture by Roysten Rueben

JOHOR BARU, Sept 22 — Johor’s Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia said today it is confident that the party will defend the Tanjung Piai parliamentary seat, following the death of its incumbent MP and deputy minister Datuk Dr Md Farid Md Rafik.

Its state chapter’s chief Mazlan Bujang also insisted that his party will continue to contest the seat for the imminent by-election.

“There has been a previous consensus between all component parties within Pakatan Harapan (PH) that the Tanjung Piai parliamentary seat belongs to Bersatu.

“So, there is already an agreement within our partners in Pakatan on the matter,” said Mazlan when contacted today.

He was asked if Bersatu would be defending the seat or it would be contested by any one of the PH component parties.

The Tanjung Piai parliamentary constituency, a known MCA stronghold in the past, was traditionally contested by DAP since 2004.

However, for the previous general election last year, the seat was given to Bersatu in an agreement within PH where they won it from Barisan Nasional (BN).

On PH preparations for the expected by-election, Mazlan said there will be an initial meeting to assess the situation in Tanjung Piai that will be chaired by Johor PH chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also Bersatu president and the home minister.

“At present, Tan Sri is away on a working trip in the United States and is expected to return in the next two days’ time where PH Johor will hold a meeting on Tanjung Piai,” he said, referring to Muhyiddin.

“The meeting would involve touching on the voters’ sentiments for the Tanjung Piai constituency, as well as collecting relevant data and statistics from the previous general election,” said Mazlan, who is also the Puteri Wangsa assemblyman and also Tebrau Bersatu division chief.

Mazlan said that the state PH will hold a separate meeting on preparing a list of potential candidates to contest for Tanjung Piai.

However, he said this would depend on the input as well as understanding from the other PH component parties.

It was reported earlier today that the Election Commission (EC) is expected to issue a statement on the newly-vacant parliamentary seat located in the southern state by tomorrow.

The Tanjung Piai seat fell vacant following the sudden death of Dr Md Farid, who is also a Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, early yesterday morning.

The 42-year-old died at the Pontian Hospital due to a heart attack at 6am.

In the 14th general election Dr Md Farid, who is the Tanjung Piai Bersatu deputy chief, won the seat from MCA by a 524-vote majority when he beat Datuk Seri Wee Jeck Seng.

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