Former Lord President and PAS assemblyman Salleh Abas will not be defending his Jertih state seat in the forthcoming polls and has expressed his wish to retire from politics.

Press Secretary to the Terengganu Mentri Besar, Zahari Mohamed told malaysiakini today that Salleh's name has been dropped from PAS state line-up and has been replaced by ex-corporate leader Hassan Salleh, TDM Berhad's former chief executive officer.

"PAS wanted Tun Salleh to defend his seat but the latter requested that his name be dropped from the party's candidate's list. He said that it was time for him to retire from politics. In fact, when he agreed to stand in 1999, he specified that he intended to serve for only a term," said Zahari when contacted.

However, he said PAS was confident that Salleh would be rendering his services to the state "... through other means".

"I am sure he will be given a role in the state government if PAS retains Terengganu. We still need him and his expertise in law. So I hope he will still will be around," added Zahari.

Newcomer Hassan is expected to face a tough fight against Umno Terengganu's deputy head, Idris Jusoh, but the former has said he is confident of retaining the seat for PAS.

According to the PAS list of election candidates released by the party yesterday, only five new faces are being fielded in Terengganu including PAS secretary general Nasharuddin Mat Isa who will be contesting the Besut parliamentary seat.

Zahari said the party decided to field Nasharuddin in Terengganu instead of Kedah where he stood in 1999 as his former Yan parliamentary seat had been 'thrown out' following the Election Commission's re-delineation exercise last year. The seat is now known as Jerai.

"PAS wants to ensure that Nasharuddin continues to support the opposition in parliament. That is why we decide to field him in Besut," he said.

Two for two

He said the fact that Nasharuddin is not a Terengganu local will not affect PAS' chance of winning the seat as he is a well-known figure at the national level and the locals "would have no problem relating to him."

Nasharuddin will be contesting against Umno's Dr Abdullah Mat Zin in Besut.

PAS' Terengganu list also confirmed that the party's president Abdul Hadi Awang and vice- president Mustafa Ali will be defending their state and parliamentary seats. They are the only PAS leaders standing for two seats each in the state.

Abdul Hadi will contest the Marang parliamentary seat against Umno's Abdul Rahman Bakar and also the Rhu Rendang state seat against Umno's Tengku Zainudin Tengku Zahid.

As for Mustafa, an observer said that he initially only wanted to defend his Pengkalan Berangan state seat but voters at his Dungun parliamentary seat managed to persuade him to defend that seat also.

"He agreed as he did not want to disappoint the people at Dungun," said the observer.

Apart from Nasharuddin, the four new PAS faces in Terengganu contesting state seats are Kamaruzaman Abdullah (Telemong), Mohd Razki Alias ( (Ajil), Dr Alias Abdul Rahman (Cukai) and Tengku Ahmad Tengku Husin (Langkap).