Its Kota Raja division chairman Mohamed Diah Baharun said PAS was determined to field a new candidate in the seat which it had contested since the general election of 2004.
“We are ready to fight in the polls to defend our ‘traditional’ seat. Our election machinery is ready to move once the government dissolves Parliament,” he told FMT.
The party’s resolve means that there is likely to be a multi-cornered fight in the constituency with Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Harapan (PH) almost certain to run in the Malay-majority area.
PAS had fielded Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud to stand in Kota Raja since 2004 when she lost to MIC’s S Vigneswaran Sanasee.
She won in the subsequent elections in 2008 and 2013. In the latter, she garnered victory by a massive 29,395-vote margin in a four-cornered race.
She obtained 59,106 votes, while MIC’s S Murugesan got 29,711, and independent candidates P Uthayakumar and Azman Idrus attained 2,364 and 280 votes respectively.
However, in August 2015, Mariah left PAS with more than 400 grassroots leaders from Kota Raja, Kapar and Klang to join Gerakan Harapan Baru (GHB), a political movement made up of former PAS leaders who helped to form Amanah a month later.
Mariah had been Kota Raja PAS vice-chairman while Jaafar Samsudin, who is also with Amanah, was the chairman.
Diah said although most Kota Raja division committee members had joined Amanah, the vacancies were resolved quickly.
“We held meetings with our secretary-general and state leaders twice on the vacancies and filled all the positions,” he said.
He also denied rumours that the division had been disbanded due to a large number of members quitting.
He said it had no impact as only about 200 people, or less than 5% of the division, had exited with Siti Mariah.
Diah, who took over the Kota Raja division after the exit, also alleged that Siti Mariah did not do her job well as a representative since she was re-elected in 2013.
“We spoke to the locals, who were mostly from among the poor, and they told us that they rarely saw her around.
“Some of them have said they felt ‘betrayed’ and disappointed with her,” he said, adding that she posed no threat to PAS.
Diah said it was possible that Mariah may not seek to contest the seat in GE14 which is due by August next year.
He also said Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad would not succeed in influencing the locals to support the opposition coalition.
“For us, Tun M as chairman only adds more liability to the coalition. All the parties (in PH) are struggling,” he said.