The Malaysian Insight

UMNO is confident of retaining Besut at the next general election even though its main rival for the parliamentary seat PAS has linked up with Bersatu in Perikatan Nasional, said grassroots leaders in the division.

The leaders were also certain their party will take back the Kota Putera state seat which it lost to the Islamist party in the last polls.

Besut Umno division secretary Hasmidi Hasan said the confidence is derived from the poor performance of the PAS administration in Terengganu and the lack of a grassroots network for Bersatu in the state.

“Besut is a BN fort. In the last election we made a mistake with the state assembly candidate but the next time around we’ll take it back,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

The Besut MP is former higher education minister Idris Jusoh, who held on to the seat with a 4,599 majority after polling 34, 355 votes.

PAS candidate Riduan Mohamad Nor received 29,736 votes while the Pakatan Harapan candidate from Bersatu, Wan Nazari Wan Jusoh picked up 6,864.

Besut and Hulu Terengganu were the only two federal seats among the 10 in the state that went to Barisan Nasional in 2018.

Umno lost Hulu Terengganu, however, when its MP Rosol Wahid, ditched the party for Bersatu after the polls. He is now the deputy minister of domestic trade and consumer affairs.

An all-out fight in the state between Umno and PAS is on the cards after PAS announced recently that it wanted to contest as many seats as possible without discussing the matter with the Muafakat Nasional state chapter.

It led to state chairman Ahmad Said saying that the Muafakat Nasional pact at the state level was dead, declaring Umno would contest all 32 state seats and eight out of 12 parliamentary seats in the next general election.

Besut Division youth chief Mohd Rozaini Mohd Rasdi agreed but expected the Islamist party to mount a fight in the two state seats.

Apart from Kota Putera, the other states in the Besut parliamentary constitutency are Jertih, Kuala Besut and Hulu Besut.

Until the 2018 elections, Kota Putera had been an Umno seat since it was created in 2004.

In the last polls, PH candidates from Bersatu contested in Kuala Besut and Hulu Besut while Amanah stood in Jertih.

Rozaini did not expect a national wave for the opposition Pakatan Harapan at the 15th general election could derail the incumbents in the three state seats Umno still held.

“The last election many were influenced by the sentiments and issues at the national level. But this time I think Umno will be better prepared to handle the polls better,” he said.

Defectors return

Rozaini said in the aftermath of the 2018 general election, many Umno members left the party to join Bersatu.

But that didn’t last long and many of them have returned to the Umno fold in recent months.

He noted the internal issues in Bersatu in Besut had also prompted many to return.

“The Bersatu candidate who contested the general election (Wan Nazari) also lost in the party’s division election.

“He had been instrumental in luring our members. But now that he is out, many are coming back,” he said noting that the defections were never reported as it was done on the quiet.

Wan Nazari lost the division chief contest to Mohamad Hussaimi Hussin, the Bersatu party polls in March 2020.

Rozaini said the PAS government had failed to fulfil its manifesto.

An example of this was the failed promise of a house or a piece of land for every youth in the state, he said.

Hasmidi said PAS’ failure over the manifesto could be forgiven if it only made an effort to show it cared for the people.

“For example, now with Hari Raya around the corner they have a chance to do wonders for their image.

“When Umno was in power, aid would be automatically channelled to the people but PAS stopped this,” he said, noting that goodwill generated during this period would go a long way with rural folk.

Hasmidi said PAS leaders were preoccupied with enriching themselves while power had translated to fights at the division levels like in Besut.

“They seemed to have forgotten the reason for their struggle,” he said.

He said Umno members were waiting to see how the move to mend fences in the Muafakat Nasional relationship in the state went.

Hasmidi said the grassroots wished to have fair distribution of the state seats but PAS had unilaterally announced its plans for the state elections without first consulting its partner.– April 21, 2021.