ALOR STAR: Kedah Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Datuk Mahfuz Omar today challenged Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor to move to a DAP stronghold seat in the upcoming state election.
Mahfuz said the state Pakatan Nasional (PN) chairman should contest either in Derga or Kota Darul Aman constituency to prove that he was a leader that commanded the support of all communities in Kedah.
"I think Sanusi should prove that he is one Menteri Besar that commands the support of all communities in Kedah.
"He should emulate Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who has won the contest for Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat before shifting to Port Dickson and then Tambun.
"Despite all the slanders levelled against him, Anwar has proven that he is a leader with calibre that is accepted by the people to lead the nation," Mahfuz told reporters at the state PH headquarters here today.
The former Pokok Sena Member of Parliament added that as a leader who portrayed himself as a Malay hero, Sanusi should contest in a DAP stronghold.
"Sanusi is being portrayed as a Malay hero who fights against DAP, accusing DAP of being communist and so on.
"Thus, he should shift from his (Jeneri) state seat and contest either in Derga or Kota Darul Aman to save the Malays in the constituencies. That is the best way to prove that he is a true Malay hero," he said.
Derga state seat is currently held by Kedah DAP chairman Tan Kok Ewe, while Kota Darul Aman constituency is held by DAP's Teh Swee Leong.
Mahfuz was responding to Sanusi's recent statement challenging the former to contest in the upcoming state polls due to be held by July after losing his Pokok Sena parliamentary seat to Kedah Pas commissioner Datuk Ahmad Yahaya in the 15th General Election.
Six states, namely Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, Penang, Selangor and Negri Sembilan, had earlier decided not to hold state elections together with the general election in November last year, which coincided with the annual monsoon flood season.