KUALA BESUT The Barisan Nasional (BN) and PAS are clashing head on for the Kuala Besut state seat in the by-election on July 24, a repeat of the by-election held 34 years ago also during the Ramadan  month.

Civil engineer Tengku Zaihan Che Ku Abd Rahman, 37, is defending the seat for the BN while Endot alias Azlan Yusof, 48, of PAS is his challenger.

Tengku Zaihan submitted his nomination papers at 9.10am to returning officer A Rahim Jusoh at the nomination centre in the Kuala Besut Rakan Muda Complex. Endot took his turn seven minutes earlier.

In 1979, the BN and PAS were involved in a straight fight for the Kuala Besut seat in a by-election that was also held during Ramadan.

The current polls has been necessitated by the death of assemblyperson Dr A Rahman Mokhtar of the BN on June 26.

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who is  BN's Kuala Besut by-election director, led some 3,000 party supporters in accompanying Tengku Zaihan to the nomination centre.

Azlan, the PAS candidate, was accompanied by the party's president Abdul Hadi Awang, and a similar number of supporters.

Tengku Zaihan in a blue Baju Melayu, was accompanied into the nomination centre by his proposer Datuk Wan Zakaria Abd Rahman and seconder Roslan Ayob.

Azlan, who was attired in a green Baju Melayu, had Ayat Hadi Mamat as his proposer and Zulkarnain Abdullah as the seconder.

A slight drizzle from early morning did not deter the supporters of both parties from marching to the nomination centre with their candidates in an orderly manner under the watchful eyes of the police.

Tengku Zaihan is a civil engineer who was with the Drainage and Irrigation Department in Putrajaya and had served for five years at the Besut district office of the DID.

He hails from Kampung Nail, Kuala Besut, and had served the local community in his capacity as the district engineer after joining the DID 15 years ago.

Tengku Zaihan expressed his determination to retain the seat for the BN, saying he saw a good opportunity to do that in the straight fight.

"I foresee no problem in getting close to the people, as I have been doing so all this while," he told reporters after the nomination.

Azlan, a contractor and businessman, is the PAS treasurer for Besut. He hails from Kuala Besut and lives in Kampung Baru.

Mission to achieve '16-16 Terengganu Baru'

Azlan said PAS was bent on its mission to achieve "16-16 Terengganu Baru" (A New Terengganu 16-16) by winning the by-election, referring to the number of seats that the BN and Pakatan Rakyat would have if PAS were to win the by-election.

The BN formed the Terengganu state government after winning 17 seats in the general election on May 5. PAS had won 14 seats and PKR, one.

This by-election has drawn great interest because a PAS victory would end in both the BN and Pakatan Rakyat having 16 seats each, resulting in a hung state assembly.

Advance voting for the by-election is on July 20 and polling on July 24.

The by-election in 1979, also during Ramadan, saw Wan Zakaria Wan Abdul Rahman of the BN beat Husin Jusoh of PAS by 797 votes. It was called after assemblyperson Zakaria Muda died, also on June 26 in 1979.

Dr Rahman had won the seat in the general election on May 5 by beating Napisah Ismail of PAS by 2,434 votes.

The Kuala Besut state constituency has 17,683 voters, of which the Malays make up 17,463; Chinese, 125; and others, the rest.

The BN is using the slogan 'Kuala Besut bertambah Biru' to press for a bigger victory for the coalition while PAS intends to create a '16-16' stalemate.

- Bernama

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