Former Umno supreme council member Mustapa Mohamed’s decision to join Bersatu will facilitate the Pakatan Harapan’s efforts to bring a wave of change in political landscape in Kelantan, says Mohamad Sabu.

Mohamad, who is Amanah president, said apart from having a good and untainted image, the former international trade and industry minister was a very popular leader in Kelantan, thus able to bring the people’s support to Harapan.

“We have carried out a study in Kelantan once when the late Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat was the Kelantan menteri besar and we found that Mustapa was the second most popular leader in Kelantan after tok guru.

“Thus far, we have not heard any controversies involving Mustapa, so having him in Bersatu could bring a huge wave of hope in Kelantan,” he told reporters after launching the Amanah office for the Federal Territory and Bandar Tun Razak in Kuala Lumpur today.

He said this when asked to comment on Mustapa, who was better known as Tok Pa, and his decision to join Bersatu yesterday.

In September, Mustapa, 68, who is also Jeli MP, announced that he was quitting Umno after serving the party for more than 40 years.

Meanwhile, when asked on the possibility of other leaders or former BN leaders would join the Harapan component parties, Mohamad, who is also defence minister, said he believed that there would be more (leaders) to do so.

Mohamad also said that after the 14th general election, on average, Amanah received new 10,000 membership applications a month with Kelantan recording the highest number of membership.

“This shows that the Malays, especially in the east coast, have begun to support Harapan,” he said.

- Bernama