FORMER Malacca chief minister and Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate Idris Haron will face five other candidates for the Asahan seat in the Malacca elections.

At the end of the filing of candidate nominations today, the Election Commission (EC) announced the six candidates for the seat.

Idris faces competition from Fairul Nizam Roslan (Barisan Nasional) and Dhanesh Basil (Perikatan Nasional), plus three independent candidates: Azmar Ab Hamid, Mohd Akhir Ayob and Mohd Noor Salleh.

Asahan will be a closely watched seat, with the former chief minister hoping to reprise his role.

His endorsement by PH amid controversy about taking in “party hoppers” will also be a test of whether PH chairman Anwar Ibrahim’s gamble to accept the assemblyman, expelled by Umno, is successful.

Idris was also among the four assemblymen who pulled support from Chief Minister Sulaiman Md Ali last month, triggering the state elections.

The three other assemblymen were Nor Azman Hassan, also from Umno, Norhizam Hassan Baktee – a former DAP rep turned independent – and Bersatu’s Noor Effandi Ahmad.

Like Idris, Nor Azman was also expelled from Umno, and has also been accepted into PH through Amanah. He is defending the Pantai Kundor seat, which he won in 2018 on a BN ticket.

Idris and Nor Azman’s acceptance into the opposition coalition has been justified by PH chairman and opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who said they were not party-hoppers because they had already been expelled from Umno.

Anwar also said their recent actions were to return the mandate to PH, which won Malacca and formed the government after the 2018 general election.

Idris, speaking to reporters after the nomination process, said he was moving from his previous seat, Sungai Udang, to contest in Asahan, “for the sake of Malacca’s people”.

“It’s not about my own future but the future of Asahan voters, for all of Malacca, to give PH a chance again,” Idris said.

Asahan, with more than 16,000 voters, was held by BN with a slender 275-vote majority after a three-cornered wight with Bersatu and PAS. – November 8, 2021.