Parti Amanah Negara has been placed in an awkward position after PAS yesterday fielded Meru assemblyperson Abdul Rani Osman as its candidate in the upcoming Sungai Besar parliamentary by-election.

Abdul Rani was close to Amanah leaders prior to the formation of the PAS splinter party and still maintains a good relationship with them.

Prior to the split in PAS, Abdul Rani and Khalid Samad, now Amanah communication director, had even regularly held press conferences together.

Khalid acknowledged there was nothing to attack his friend on in terms of his personality, but Amanah will instead focus on PAS' policies.

He believed PAS' move to field Abdul Rani is also a clear indication that it is putting Pakatan Harapan and not Umno, dead centre in its crosshairs.

"For me Abdul Rani is important for them to gain non-Malay votes, which means they want to fight with Harapan and not Umno.

"Because if they are squaring off against Umno they should put a candidate that is popular with the Malays," Khalid, who is also Shah Alam MP, told Malaysiakini.

Specifically, Khalid believes that PAS is looking to use Rani's popularity with the non-Malays to poach the Chinese votes that the DAP usually brings on Harapan's side.

"We see this as a means to get Chinese votes in Sekinchan particularly. We see that PAS is not seriously opposing the Umno candidate because the Malay party will compete for Malay votes.

"If they want to fight with Umno they should field someone who is popular with the Malays so they can get more Malay votes," he reiterated.

Asked if Rani's close relationship with himself and other Amanah members will affect his, or Amanah's resolve, Khalid shrugged off the matter.

"There is nothing to attack him personally, we will attack the party's policies, it is not a personal fight," he said.

Rani has been seen to be close to Amanah leaders including Khalid himself, as they often held press conferences together.

However Khalid opined that while Rani is a person that has been good to them, the fact remains that he is in PAS, a party which has a very arrogant and unfriendly attitude specifically toward non-Muslims.

He also lamented that those that do not agree with PAS, were often automatically declared as enemies of Islam like they did to DAP and others.

"This is not an approach that we agree with," Khalid said.

Asked if the need to revert to party policies will hamper Amanah or Harapan's election strategy, Khalid said it is of no import.

"It's okay, we will fight on the basis of policies and not personal matters. Fighting Abdul Rani is hard? Not really, we are ready," assured the Shah Alam parliamentarian.

He also said that Rani being picked as PAS Sg Besar candidate will not derail Amanah's decision on who to field in the by-election, alhough he declined to disclose details, adding that the candidate from Amanah will be announced on June 1.

The Sungai Besar parliamentary seat fell vacant after the death of incumbent MP Noriah Kasnon in the May 5 helicopter crash in Sarawak.

BN has fielded Umno Sungai Panjang assemblyperson Budiman Zohdi as its candidate for the parliamentary seat which will see a three-cornered fight between Umno, PAS and Harapan, barring the entry of independent candidates.

The opposition previously hoped to see a one-on-one fight against BN in Sungai Besar but the plan derailed after negotiations led by PKR's Selangor MB Azmin Ali broke down.