AMANAH today confirmed that its information chief Khalid Samad will leave his Shah Alam parliamentary seat to contest in Johor in the coming national polls but will leave it to Pakatan Harapan to decide which seat he will contest.

Amanah deputy president Salahuddin Ayub said “If Khalid contests in Johor, it does not mean it must be Johor Baru because that’s a PKR seat,”

When asked if the Shah Alam MP will be going up against his brother Shahrir Samad in Johor Baru, he said that will be decided by the PH presidential council.

“It’s possible… anything can happen, but all will be decided by PH,” Salahuddin said at the Amanah headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today.

“We will not announce anything before we get an endorsement from the PH (presidential) council, but we can recommend it.”

Shahrir has been elected Johor Baru MP for three consecutive terms, in 2004, 2008 and 2013, albeit with a steadily declining majority.

After winning with a huge majority of 46,792 votes in 2004, his advantage fell to 25,349 in 2008 and then to 10,134 in 2013.

Salahuddin said PH will ensure only influential leaders will contest in the Umno stronghold, with the aim of making Johor PH’s frontline state.

“We are prepared to bring the big guns and Amanah is also making sure that Khalid will go down to Johor to reinforce Amanah and to hand victory to PH,” he said.

“We also considering (to field) several other leaders from Amanah in Johor.”

Khalid, who was a PAS leader, won two consecutive terms as Shah Alam MP, with a 9,319 majority in 2008 and a larger 10,939 majority in 2013.

Amanah Selangor had previously suggested that party president Mohamad Sabu, better known as Mat Sabu, contest in Shah Alam in GE14.

Salahuddin said PH is confident that it can conquer Johor, where Umno was born, by fielding influential leaders such as Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin and by criticising Johor Menteri Besar Khaled Nordin for failing to resolve issues in the state. – October 3, 2017.