'Voting for MCA like buying Malay-Muslim items from Chinese salesperson'

Kedah PAS state commissioner Ahmad Yahya has come up with an analogy in his efforts to justify PAS' support for BN candidate Wee Jeck Seng in the coming Tanjung Piai by-election.

"Voting the Chinese MCA in Tanjung Piai is the same as buying Malay-Muslim items that are sold by Chinese salespeople.

"While they are sold by Chinese (MCA), the owners are Malay-Muslims (Umno-BN)," Ahmad said in a Facebook posting last night.

He went on to say that this was a better choice than buying products which used a Malay-Muslim name (Bersatu) but were businesses actually owned by non-Muslims (DAP).

"Jurujualnya Melayu (PPBM), tetapi taukenya Cina (DAP)," Ahmad said in dismissing Bersatu as "Malay salespeople for Chinese bosses".

His comparison appears to be borne out of a desire to reconcile PAS's backing of Wee, with PAS leader Abdul Hadi Awang's recent statement that it was forbidden for people of the Islamic faith to surrender power to other races who are not Muslims.

The Tanjung Piai by-election has presented a challenge for politicians harping on Malay-Muslim supremacy such as Hadi, Putra leader Ibrahim Ali and many Umno leaders.

In the run-up to naming the BN candidate, there was a strong lobby for the two-term former MP Wee to be dropped in favour of a Malay-Muslim candidate.

This was especially so as the ruling Pakatan Harapan's candidate, Karmaine Sardini, is the son of a local religious figure and also serves as Johor Bersatu's Religious Bureau chairperson, besides being the former imam of the Al-Muttaqin Mosque in Johor Bahru.

The Tanjung Piai by-election is being held following the death of its incumbent, Dr Mohd Farid Mohd Farik, 42, of heart complications on Sept 21.

In the general election last year, Mohd Farid won the seat after polling 21,255 votes to defeat Wee (20,731 votes) and PAS candidate Nordin Othman (2,962 votes).

The EC has set Nov 2 as nomination day and Nov 16 as polling day for the parliamentary by-election.

Thus far Karmaine, Wee and Gerakan deputy secretary-general Wendy Subramaniam have been named as candidates.