"I come to fight" - RajaAffandi

KEMAMAN - Former Malaysian Armed Forces Chief General (Retired) Tan Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor likened the upcoming Kemaman parliamentary by-Election to a battlefield but in a different context.

Affandi, who is the Barisan Nasional (BN), emphasised that he carries a crucial mission to win the Kemaman seat.

"So when I entered (the nomination centre) just now, I felt like it was a battlefield. It's a different form of warfare. I feel that with a good and well-organised strategy, it is not impossible for us to bring BN’s victory to Kemaman," he told media members at Dewan Berlian Utama, Kemaman Municipal Council here today.

Affandi also stated that his current focus was on securing victory to become the representative for the Kemaman constituency. As a Kemaman native, he said his focus was on serving the residents there.

"I say Kemaman is for the people of Kemaman. I return here as a Kemaman-bred and will serve the people of Kemaman because I am from Kemaman.

"My focus is only one, which is to win. The rest are methods and ways to achieve victory," he said.

Affandi will be face a tough challenge as he will be up against Terengganu Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar in a one-on-one contest.

The Kemaman parliamentary by-election follows the decision of the Terengganu Election Court on Sept 26 to annul the victory of the Pas candidate, Che Alias Hamid in the 15th General Election (PRU15).

This came after the petitioner, Wan Mohamad Hisham Wan Abdul Jalil (a voter), successfully proved that corrupt practices had occurred with the intention of influencing voters in that election.

On Oct 3, Pas decided not to file any appeals against the decision of the Kemaman parliamentary petition that annulled the party's victory.

The Kemaman by-election was expected to incur expenses of RM3.5 million, involving 2,102 officers and 49 polling centres with 244 channels.

The constituency has 141,790 voters based on the Supplementary Electoral Roll updated until Oct 3, comprising 141,382 regular voters, 387 police personnel, nine military personnel and spouses, and 12 overseas absentee voters.

In the GE15, Che Alias won the Kemaman Parliamentary seat after obtaining 65,714 votes, defeating the Umno Terengganu Chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Said, who received 38,535 votes with a majority of 27,179 votes.

The other two candidates in the constituency, Rosli Ab Ghani (Pejuang) and Hasuni Sudin (PH), received 506 and 8,340 votes, respectively.