By Athi ShankarGEORGE TOWN: Penang Deputy Chief Minister 1 Mansor Othman and executive councillor Abdul Malik Abul Kassim will contest in the national PKR supreme council election scheduled this November.
Mansor, the state PKR chairman, announced that he would be vying for one of the three vice-president's posts while Malik, the state vice-chairman, is gunning for a place in the supreme council.
The duo are the only Penang candidates thus far to announce their intention to contest in the party national polls.
When contacted, Malik confirmed that he and Mansor had announced their electoral interests during the state liaison committee meeting on Sunday.
The meeting preceded a breaking-fast (buka puasa) dinner with party national vice-president Azmin Ali with about 100 state divisional committee members at Yayasan Aman in Penanti.
Strangely though, in his speech, Gombak MP Azmin made no mention of his intention to contest for the party deputy president post in the election.
Sources said Azmin, also the Bukit Antarabangsa assemblyman, touched on internal party matters and the on-going sodomy 2 trial of party supremo Anwar Ibrahim.
“He advised members to be forge close working ties and unity to face the next general election,” said a division leader who attended the dinner.
Malik said he believed he could contribute effectively for the party struggle by offering his service to serve in the party's top leadership.
However, Malik said he was unperturbed by the possibility of defeat in the party polls.
“Win or lose, I will continue to serve the party in any capacity,” he told FMT. He contested and lost in the supreme council contest in the last party polls.
The 56-year-old former businessman-turned-politician is a pioneer member of the party since it was formed in 1999.
He was among former Umno members who challenged and walked out from the party in protest against the sacking of Anwar as Umno deputy president and deputy prime minister on Sept 2, 1998.
After a lean political spell for nearly a decade, his political fortunes suddenly soared in the last two years.
Malik, the Tanjung PKR division chairman, won the Batu Maung state seat in the 2008 general election with 3,169-victory margin against Umno/BN candidate Norman Zahalan.
He was initially touted as PKR's nominee for the deputy chief minister 1 post before the top leadership decided to give it to Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin, who had since quit and defected to Umno.
As an executive councillor in the Pakatan Rakyat state government, Malik handles the Islamic religious and, domestic trade and consumer affairs.
Founder member of PKN
A former academician, Mansor aspires to climb the ladder of the party hierarchy to enhance his political career.
Like Malik, Mansor is among the founding member of PKN, the predecessor of PKR, in 1999 and was first and longest serving Penang party chief.
He became the Penanti assemblyman on a May 31 when he won the by-election last year and was appointed as DCM 1 on June 3 in the Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng's cabinet.
He handles portfolios of industrial development, international trade, cooperative and society relationship.
The Penanti seat, which comes under the Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency held by Anwar, fell vacant when Fairus resigned as assemblyman.
Mansor relinquished his position as Balik Pulau division chairman and moved his membership to the Permatang Pauh division, chaired by Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
He is expected to contest the division's deputy chairman's post in the coming divisional polls.
Prior to Penanti, Mansor has lost all his electoral battles - to Zain Omar in the Balik Pulau parliamentary duel in 1999, to Ariff Shah Omar Shah in the Seberang Jaya state seat contest in 2004 and to Muhammad Farid Saad in the Pulau Betong state constituency.
A former professor from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Mansor was Anwar's political secretary from 1996 to 1998 when the parliamentary Opposition Leader was the deputy prime minister in the BN government.
He earned a Masters degree in social science from USM, and a Masters in Arts and a Masters in Philosophy from Yale University. He has served in PKR's supreme council for 10 years.
Malik said Mansor's candidature for vice-president post was a matter of pride for Penang PKR.
“I believe all Penang members would support Mansor,” he said, while declining to weigh local backing for himself.
PKR is the only party in the country which allows all its members, about 460,000 from 205 divisions, to take part in direct election to choose the party leadership.
Anwar has already advised the party election bureau to conduct a free, fair and smooth party polls, and avoid messing up the mass election.
