New BN Arau candidate regards incumbent Shahidan as mentor

KANGAR - Datuk Rozabil Abd Rahman, the new Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for the Arau parliamentary seat in the 15th General Election (GE15), said he has never harboured any intention of challenging, let alone rebelling against the dropped incumbent Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, whom he considers as his mentor.

Speaking to Bernama when contacted here, the former Arau Umno Division youth chief said that he also did not want to be labelled as an 'usurper' of the hot seat but instead just acquiesced to the decision made by the BN leadership to name him as the coalition's candidate for Arau

"I am aware that the task given to me is a very difficult one, especially since Datuk Seri Shahidan had expressed his desire to defend Arau.

"(But) I never intended to challenge Shahidan let alone 'disobey' the teacher who taught me a lot about the ins and outs of politics and administration," he said.

Rozabil, who is Shahidan's former Chief Political Secretary, said that before being nominated, he had first contacted Shahidan to seek his blessings and ask for his help to ensure victory remained with BN in GE15.

Rozabil, who is also a former Chief Executive Officer of a company listed on Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur (BSKL), said he will contest in a healthy way and avoid any confrontation in order to gain support at the grassroots level.

"Insya Allah (God willing), I will do my best to ensure that Arau continues to be a BN stronghold," he said.

In GE14, Shahidan won the seat with a majority of 4,856 votes, defeating PH-PKR candidate Datuk Dr Abd Rahman Daud and Datuk Hashim Jasin of PAS.

As of Oct 9, 2022, the Arau constituency has 60,876 registered electors.

Nomination is this Saturday (Nov 5), early voting on Nov 15 and polling on Nov 19. - BERNAMA