Amanah's Saari Sungib offers to fight as a PKR man in GE15 against Azmin

Malaysiakini:

Amanah's Saari Sungib offers to represent PKR, fight Azmin in GE15

Amanah's Hulu Kelang assemblyperson Saari Sungib has offered to join PKR if the party allows him to contest against Bersatu's Azmin Ali for the Gombak parliamentary seat in the 15th general election.

Saari was speculated to have entered PKR after his former colleague in Amanah, Meru assemblyperson Mohd Fakhrulrazi Mohd Mokhtar, recently quit the party and reportedly joined PKR.

He later admitted to having advised Fakhrulrazi to make the move to PKR to strengthen the support for opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to become the prime minister.

"I would like to offer myself to fight against Azmin Ali for the Gombak parliamentary seat in the next general election if I'm healthy and if the Pakatan Harapan leadership sees me as a winnable candidate.

"Since it is PKR's seat, therefore if I'm selected, I'm ready to become a PKR member," he said in a statement to Malaysiakini.

To prove that he is a winnable candidate to fight Azmin, Saari said he has at least 27,000 Gombak voters ready to vote for him in the constituency.

"Some members of society, including Indians, Chinese, Punjabis, Eurasians and Temuan Orang Asli, had met me to extend their support. In Gombak, they are numbered between 5,000 and 7,000.

"According to a PKR Youth leader, associations related to Minang, Bawean and Sumatera ethnic groups, comprising about 20,000 in Gombak, are ready to give support to anyone who fights Azmin," said the Hulu Kelang assemblyperson.

Gombak is PKR's traditional seat but its incumbent Azmin had left the party to join the movement to topple the Harapan government in February. Under PKR, Azmin was the deputy president.

Saari reminisced the time when he joined Anwar's movement when the latter was sacked as the deputy prime minister in September 1998, which brought to his active involvement in Parti Keadilan Nasional (PKN).

PKN, led by Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, was formed in 1999, and then rebranded into what is now known as PKR.

"I was considering joining either PAS or PKN, and ended up contesting in the 1999 general election under PKN for the Kuala Langat parliamentary seat.

"After the general election, I was appointed as a member of the supreme leadership council of the party," he said.

Saari claimed that being with the supreme leadership council gave him the opportunity to organise peaceful rallies, but they all ended up in confrontations with the police.

During his time with the party, he said, he was tasked with combining PKN and Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) after two PKN vice-presidents failed to do so, in which he succeeded.

Throughout his political journey, Saari was arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) twice, once in 1999 and then in 2001.

In 2004, he contested in Paya Besar under PKR.

Subsequently, he joined PAS and won the Hulu Kelang state seat in the 2008 and 2013 general elections, before quitting the party in 2015 to form Amanah.

For now, Saari said he would continue to carry out his duty as Amanah Gombak chief as well as his role in the party leadership.

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kt notes:

On paper, popular belief and PKR angry hopes, Saari Sungib will win hands down if pitted against Azmin in Gombak. Saari is not only a popular and well admired politician (PAS or AMANAH as he might be), but many recall his (& Hanipa Maidin's) righteous loyalty to Pakatan Rakyat (before Harapan) in Selangor when PAS attempted to create havoc during the MB changeover when PKR forced Khalid Ibrahim to step down (and which was why PAS subsequently backed Azmin as MB over Wan Azizah).

Saari has always been an Anwar man.

But Azmin Ali, apart from being a political survivor par excellence, has long been a shrewd and manipulative politician. He is not to be under-estimated. He can and will come up with a whole bag of surprises, tricks and counter-measures if Saari or anyone else were to compete against him in Gombak. And he has the advantage of incumbency plus the reality he is de facto Economics Minister with deep pockets (of governmental money, wakakaka).

Let's examine some stats in at least 2 past GE in Gombak, but I won't consider the 2018 polls because there was then a tsunamic wave of pro Pakatan enthusiasm and hope which was not normal - people then were fired up with pre-election promises made by Pakatan Harapan, and which (the fire) may then have become dampened considerably since the PH failures and disgraces over their 2-years rule. But the 2018 GE won't reflect what will come from the by-now disenchanted voters in 2023. So let's look at 2008 and 2013:

Election results[edit]

Malaysian general election, 2013 hide

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	PKR	Mohamed Azmin Ali	54,827	52.02	- 2.63
	BN	Raman Ismail	50,093	47.53	+ 2.18
	Independent	Said Nazar Abu Baker	474	0.45	+ 0.45
Total valid votes			105,394	100.00
Total rejected ballots			1,353
Unreturned ballots			393
Turnout			107,140	86.90
Registered electors			123,290
Majority			4,734	4.49
	PKR hold		Swing		{{{3}}}
show Source(s)

Malaysian general election, 2008 hide

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	PKR	Mohamed Azmin Ali	40,334	54.65	+ 54.65
	BN	Said Anuar Said Ahmad	33,467	45.35	- 14.58
Total valid votes			73,801	100.00
Total rejected ballots			820
Unreturned ballots			998
Turnout			75,619	76.26
Registered electors			99,153
Majority			6,867	9.30
	PKR gain from BN		Swing		?

Gombak has been said to be a PAS stronghold but Azmin Ali has won it 3 times in a row (2008, 13 and 18). PAS didn't even contested in 2008 and 2013 because of the said 'kamcheng' with Azmin Ali - that's how clever and cunning Azmin has been.

But though the Islamic Party did contest in 2018 in a 3-major party competition, it was too late to make an impact as by then the pro Pakatan Harapan tsunami was in full force - consider, pro PH street hawkers and food stalls, especially in KL, Selangor and Penang, were providing free meals to those who voted, plus free transportation interstate was also organised by pro PH volunteers.

Thus the combined votes of PAS and UMNO in 2018, assuming the two parties didn't split up, totalled up to only some 43,000+, not enough to defeat Azmin Ali who rode on the 2018 tsunami into a 63% votes victory.

But if we examined the 2008 and 2013 GE, Azmin Ali averaged only 53% win amounting to a 6,000 votes majority. The majority for Azmin is not overwhelming for an opponent and the Bersatu minister looks defeatable in 2023 (assuming the GE will be by then and the disgust and hatred for his treachery still burn strongly).

But as I mentioned, watch out for this slimy cunning wriggly snake - he won't lie down quietly as is believed, wakakaka. He'll fight tooth and nail to survive. Besides, PAS is once again on Azmin's side.

But still, I dare say, Saari Sungib has a fighting chance. I hope PKR will nominate him for Gombak as he proposes.