MELAKA: Hang Tuah Jaya PKR division chief Rafee Ibrahim says he will not be sour grapes for not being fielded as a candidate in the 15th General Election (GE15).
Instead, he said would fully support PKR youth chief Adam Adli Abd Halim who has been nominated by the party leadership to contest the Hang Tuah Jaya parliamentary constituency.
“Please don’t listen to hypocrites within the party and outside who have grabbed the opportunity to spread unfounded statements on the selection of the candidate for the seat,” he said after holding a press conference to explain on the issue of discontentment at the grassroots over the choice of candidate for the seat on Sunday (Oct 30).
Rafee said his team and him will give full backing to Adam Adli.
“I will continue putting in my effort for the party and we won’t accept the ‘Bersatu episode’ here, we are all standing united. We (Hang Tuah Jaya PKR) don’t have any problems with Adam Adli being field as a candidate,” he said.
The press conference was held just hours after Bersatu vice-president Datuk Mohd Rafiq Naizamohideen announced his resignation after he was not nominated by Perikatan Nasional to contest in GE15.
Rafee was initially supposed to be fielded as a candidate for Hang Tuah Jaya before being replaced by Adam Adli.
The decision by PKR not to field Rafee has triggered dissatisfaction among PKR grassroots.
PKR’s Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin won the parliamentary seat in GE14. He defeated former Melaka chief minister Tun Dr Mohd Ali Rustam with a majority of 8,640 votes.
Shamsul first won the constituency in 2013, (then known as Bukit Katil) after securing 46,167 votes, to Dr Ali’s 40,720 votes.
Adam Adli who was also at the press conference acknowledged rumblings among the party grassroots regarding his candidacy.
He said he has a good relationship with Rafee and respected him as a senior in the party.
“I never demanded or lobbied to be fielded as a candidate for Hang Tuah Jaya and as a party man, I will abide by the decisions made by leaders.”
During the press conference, Adam Adli also announced the appointment of Rafee as the head of the party’s election machinery for Hang Tuah Jaya.