AT least three Amanah leaders, including party president Mohamad Sabu, will contest in Penang in the 14th general election, sources said.  

Mohamad will contest a parliamentary seat on the mainland, Amanah vice-president Mujahid Yusof Rawa is expected to contest a state seat on the island, and Amanah deputy youth chief Faiz Fadzil will run for a state seat on the mainland, sources said.

There are seven parliamentary seats in Seberang Perai. Five of them are held by Amanah’s coalition partners, PKR and DAP. Barisan Nasional holds the remaining two seats of Kepala Batas and Tasik Gelugor.

“Amanah is fielding three leaders in Penang due to the party’s strong presence there,” said a source familiar with Pakatan Harapan’s seat negotiations.

The opposition coalition comprises Amanah, PKR, DAP, and Bersatu.

Mujahid is expected to be fielded in the Bayan Lepas state seat under the Balik Pulau parliamentary constituency, a source said. Bayan Lepas is held by Barisan Nasional’s Nordin Ahmad, who won the seat  by 458 votes in the last general election.    

Faiz will contest the Permatang Pasir state seat under the Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency. PAS’ Mohd Sallen Man won the state seat by 6,826 votes in 2013.

PH, which has governed Penang since 2008, holds 30 of the state’s 40 state seats.  

There has been speculation that the Penang-born Mohamad would contest Shah Alam while the incumbent MP, Khalid Samad, also of Amanah, will move to Johor.

Khalid on Thursday said parliamentary seat negotiations between PH components were 90% complete and expected to wrap up by the end of the month.  

Mujahid is the Parti Buntar MP. Faiz is a lawyer.

The two have in common fathers who were legendary PAS presidents.

Muhajid’s father, Yusof Rawa was PAS president from 1983 to 1989 after the party emerged from the deep crisis brought about by the ousting of its president Mohd Asri Muda. Yusof later became the PAS spiritual leader from 1989 to 2000.

Faiz’s father, Fadzil Noor took over the party presidency from Yusof in 1990 and was instrumental in forging alliances with other opposition parties.

PAS’ cooperation with Semangat 46 and a clutch of smaller parties helped it wrest Kelantan from Barisan Nasional in the 1990 general election.

During the 1999 general electon, Fadzil led PAS to work with DAP, Parti Keadilan Nasional (PKR’s precursor) and Parti Rakyat Malaysia, resulting in the establishment of the Barisan Alternatif coalition.

In that election, PAS and Barisan Alternatif took over the Terengganu government and made major inroads into Kedah and Perak. – December 23, 2017.