KUANTAN: A Barisan Nasional (BN) victory in the Kemaman parliamentary seat by-election on Dec 2 will clear the path for more development in the constituency, but little will change if Pas wins.
Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan said Pas candidate Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar would remain in the opposition bloc in Parliament should the Terengganu menteri besar win the seat next month.
"If Tan Sri general (BN candidate general (R) Tan Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor) wins, then he will sit together in the unity government bloc and enjoy the benefits of being a government member of parliament.
"If the MB (Ahmad Samsuri) wins, he will remain a member of the opposition bloc. Being an opposition isn't worth a single sen... I say this because all of Terengganu's key improvements, including the drawbridge, East Coast Expressway, and now the ECRL (East Coast Rail Link), were made feasible by BN (while it was in power).
"Choosing a candidate is a simple decision. When our children return and try to sway our decision, we must inform them that we want Kemaman to be in the federal government. The Pas-led state administration already controls all four state seats (Air Putih, Kemasik, Kijal, and Chukai)... enough for the state government and give the federal government the parliament seat," he said.
Ahmad Maslan, who is deputy finance minister 1, was speaking to Felda settlers at Felda Cherol hall as part of his Kemaman by-election campaign last night.
He warned that should the BN candidate win in Kemaman, development would resume as it did during the BN era, but if BN were to lose, voters would face the opposition for another four years until the next general election.
"If Tan Sri General wins, Kemaman (parliament constituency) will be the only link between Terangganu's government and the federal government, therefore don't burn (lose) the only link we have. Let us all work hard to guarantee that the BN candidate wins in Kemaman.
The Kemaman parliamentary seat by-election is a straight fight between Ahmad Samsuri and Raja Mohamed Affandi, who was picked to represent BN in the Dec 2 polls.
The by-election was called following the decision of the Terengganu Election Court on Sept 26 to annul the victory of Pas candidate Che Alias Hamid in the 15th General Election (GE15).
Pas managed a clean sweep of the parliamentary seats in Terengganu in GE15, winning all eight and securing all 32 state seats for the first time during the state polls in August.