Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) will ensure there will be no multi-cornered fights among Pakatan Harapan component parties in the upcoming by-elections.

Amanah president Mohamad Sabu said this in response to former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who has urged the opposition to stand as one to defeat BN at the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-elections.

“We, in Pakatan Harapan, will ensure that there will be no clashes between candidates like what had happened in Sarawak.

“Outside of Pakatan Harapan, however, we do not have the means to control the many parties in Malaysia.

"That's their right (to contest),” said Mohamad during a press conference at the party’s headquarters today, likely referring to PAS.

Pakatan Harapan, he said, will contest against anyone, especially BN and its allies.

PAS is adamant on contesting for both seats and has asked Harapan not to join the fray to split the votes against BN.

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang was today reported telling his opponents to know their own limitations.

On Hadi, who had told the other parties planning to contest in the by-elections to ‘cut their coats according to their cloths’, Mohamad said they should all do so.

“Let's measure our clothes, if we want to do one in pink, measure one that is pink, then, no problem,” said Mohamad jokingly.

It is unclear whether this was a dig at Hadi who had dressed in matching pink baju Melayu with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak when the duo shared the same stage at a conference in December last year.

Still undecided on candidate

Meanwhile, Amanah has yet to decide on its final candidates for the by-elections although he confirmed that those shortlisted were of the highest calibre.

The party was also undecided if its own president and deputy (Salahuddin Ayub) should contest.

“Either of us (Mohamad and Salahuddin) or anyone apart from us can be candidates,” said Mohamad, when prodded further if former Perak menteri besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin was a candidate.

Asked whether the votes for Amanah would be used to gauge its performance and popularity in the by-elections, Mohamad cited his former party PAS, pointing out how it had even lost deposits in many seats, prior to the 1999 general election.

The Islamist party had then managed to win the states of Kelantan and Terengganu

“Sarawak cannot be used to measure (the outcome) in the peninsula,” he stressed.

Amanah, less than a year old, had lost all 13 constituencies it had contested in the Sarawak state election.

Meanwhile, reminded that a multi-cornered fight could see a similar result to that witnessed in Sarawak, Mohamad cited the Bukit Selambau by-election in 2009, which saw the then opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat winning the seat, despite 15 candidates fighting against one another.

The party will also discuss matters at the next Pakatan Harapan presidential council meeting should PKR deputy president Azmin Ali ask Amanah not to contest in the by-elections.

“There are three parties in Pakatan Harapan; DAP, Amanah and PKR,” he stressed.

The two by-elections have been set to run simultaneously, with nomination day on June 5, while polling day fixed on June 18.

The seats became vacant after the demise of their incumbents, the late plantation industries and commodities deputy minister Noriah Kasnon and Wan Mohammad Khair-il Anuar Wan Ahmad, in a helicopter crash on May 5 in Sarawak.

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