FORMER Segamat MP Edmund Santhara Kumar failed to turn up at the nomination centre today to defend the seat.

Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) information chief Zakaria Abdul Hamid said Santhara had decided not to contest at the last minute, citing personal reasons.

Santhara was on the party’s list of candidates until yesterday evening.

“We couldn’t get another candidate for the seat as it was very last-minute,” said Zakaria.

“We are still unsure what the personal reasons are. It could be family-related or something else.

“We respect his decision and will get an explanation from him after the polls. In the meantime, our focus is on the election.”

Meanwhile, Santhara was reported as saying in FMT that he had informed his supporters of his decision a few days ago.

“Basically, I am staying out because I don’t want the votes to be split,” he said.

“Let the people decide clearly who they want to choose as their elected representative. Let them then compare the service record of the new MP and mine.

“I also wanted a cooling-off period, which is very important.”

On Wednesday, PBM announced that it would field Santhara to defend his Segamat seat.

In the last general election, newcomer Santhara snatched the seat from then MIC president Dr S. Subramaniam under the Pakatan Harapan banner. He was a member of PKR at the time.

He hopped over to Bersatu following the Sheraton Move in February 2020 and last month, joined PBM.

In the 2018 election, there were 55,350 registered voters in Segamat, with Malays making up 46%, followed by Chinese (42%), Indians (10%) and others, including Sabah and Sarawak folk and Orang Asli.

Santhara defeated Subramaniam with a majority of 5,476 votes. 

For the November 19 polls, Segamat will see a four-corner fight involving Syed Hairoul (Gerakan Tanah Air), M. Ramasamy (Barisan Nasional), R. Yuneswaran (Pakatan Harapan) and P. Poobalan (Perikatan Nasional). – November 5, 2022.