Pitching PAS vice-president Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar as a future prime minister candidate can be the Islamist party’s attempt to woo non-Muslim voters ahead of the next general polls, according to a political analyst.

Malaysian Council of Professors senior fellow Jeniri Amir said PAS needs someone like the Terengganu menteri besar to address issues with the party’s image, where it has always been perceived as extreme.

“I think it is because of his character. Samsuri has a personality of being moderate, professional, and reliable.

“He is someone with the influence to attract the support of non-Malays and non-Muslims because PAS has been facing a challenge in wooing this group.

“I think they will continue to promote him as a prime minister candidate towards the next general election,” he told Malaysiakini.

During the recently concluded Kemaman by-election in Terengganu, there was speculation that PN was grooming Samsuri to become a prime minister candidate. Samsuri later retained the seat for Perikatan Nasional.

Samsuri celebrating his by-election victory with PN leaders and supporters

Jeniri said the timing could also mean PAS wants to assert dominance in PN, given that they hold more parliamentary seats than Bersatu.

“Besides, Bersatu also does not have a fresh candidate to replace Muhyiddin Yassin as their prime minister candidate.

“What Bersatu has is Hamzah Zainudin. If compared between the two, Samsuri is better because he is ‘clean’, reliable, and a professional,” he added.

By-election gimmick

However, another expert Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani does not share Jeniri’s view.

The Universiti Utara Malaysia professor believed PN only employed the suggestion as a ploy to hype up the support of Kemaman voters.

Samsuri at the nomination centre with PN leaders including PN secretary-general Hamzah Zainudin, PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, PAS vice-president Idris Ahmad, and Gerakan president Dominic Lau.

“This was only a gimmick for the by-election because for Samsuri to become a prime minister for PAS, he has several more leaders above to get through.

“Besides, Samsuri is a professional and not from the ulama (religious leaders) group. In PAS, the top leader always comes from the ulama group within the party.

“Given this context, the idea for Samsuri to be a prime minister candidate for PAS is too far-fetched,” he told Malaysiakini.

Azizuddin opined that Bersatu, too, would not easily give way to PAS in terms of the prime minister seat.

Meanwhile, Nusantara Academy of Strategic Research analyst Azmi Hassan said the idea of Samsuri becoming prime minister was only thrown to counter BN candidate Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor, who is a retired armed forces general.

BN candidate for Kemaman Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor (right) during the campaign trail

“I saw that PAS promoting Samsuri as a future prime minister was only an illusion because they put him in Kemaman not to become an MP or to be a future PM.

“The reason why PAS placed him there was to fight Raja Affandi’s aura.

“But actually, they didn’t need Samsuri because PAS already has solid ground,” he added.

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