The Barisan Nasional coalition has decided that it will not be contesting in the Chempaka by-election in Kelantan, for the state that seat was left vacant following the death of PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat.
BN chairperson and Prime Minister Najib Razak said the coalition would instead focus its efforts on flood recovery operations and welfare programmes in the state.
“Many flood victims have yet to receive flood aid,” Najib told The Rakyat Post after chairing an UMNO Supreme Council meeting last night.
He also reminded the press that BN similarly did not contest the Bukit Gelugor by-election in Penang after the death of DAP’s Karpal Singh last year.
“We are also thinking of strengthening Malay-Muslim solidarity in the state despite the differences in opinion and ideologies,” he said, in an apparent overture to Malay-Muslim PAS, which has been toying with some sort of cooperative framework with the ruling UMNO-BN for several years.
Kelantan has been under PAS rule since 1990, with the late Nik Aziz serving as the states’s Menteri Besar for 23 of those years.
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