PAS Kedah has to let past a golden opportunity to field a woman candidate for a parliamentary seat in the coming Pendang by-election as there are no suitable candidates.

Kedah women's wing chief Wan Tom Wan Md Noor, said the party central committee has offered PAS Kedah to name a woman candidate for Pendang, but unfortunately, no one is found suitable for the task.

"It is difficult to find a candidate who can match the late Fadzil Noor's personality and charisma, let alone when it comes to a woman candidate," Wan Tom told malaysiakini today.

"It is not that we don't have qualified women candidates here, but it takes more than just good candidates to replace Fadzil," Wan Tom clarified.

She added that Fadzil — a high-profile figure locally and internationally — probably cannot be matched by any possible candidate, but assured that the contestant for the seat will at least be on par in terms of quality.

"One of the possible candidates is Azizan Abdul Razak, who is now [PAS] state commissioner and Sala state assemblyperson," said Wan Tom.

Only a few names

Besides Azizan, who is also PAS information chief, a few names have been suggested to represent the party in the seat vacated by the Opposition Leader who died last Sunday.

Among them are Dr Haron Din and Dr Amar Fadzil.

Haron is a former lecturer in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and opposition political speaker, while Amar is Fadzil's son and currently teaching in a local public higher learning institute.

Meanwhile, Othman Abdul is strongly tipped to be the Barisan Nasional candidate.

Othman is the former parliamentary-secretary in the Prime Minister's Department and also a former Mara chairperson.

In the 1999 general election, Fadzil snatched the Pendang seat from the incumbent, Othman, with a majority of 2,900 votes.

Fadzil, who died in Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's Intensive Care Unit last Sunday after a heart by-pass operation two weeks earlier, had also left the Anak Bukit state seat vacant.

The late PAS leader won the state seat in the 1999 general election with a majority of 1,840 votes against Umno's Abdullah Hasnan Kamaruddin.

Meanwhile, Election Commission secretary Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said yesterday the date for both Pendang and Anak Bukit by-elections is likely to be announced on Saturday.