PETALING JAYA: Former Public Services Department (PSD) deputy director-general Datuk Zainal Azman Abu Seman has been named Pakatan Harapan's (PH) Perak menteri besar candidate if it captures the state in the 15th General Election.
PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli said Zainal Azman, who would contest the Kuala Sepetang state seat, had extensive experience as a government official.
"That has been the plan all along. A big gamble for him (to be nominated as MB candidate).
"We've never seen a very senior person such as Zainal Azman, if not the most senior ex-civil servant, ever fielded as an election candidate," he said at PKR headquarters today.
Rafizi said it was a "big gamble" for PH to name Zainal Azman as its menteri besar candidate, but maintained that it was the right decision.
He said PH in Perak had been facing the issue of lack of Malay-elected representatives for the last 16 years.
"Every time we won, DAP would have an overwhelming number of elected representatives. Malay representatives from PKR and Amanah were way too few compared with DAP."
This, he said, had allowed Umno to create fear that the PKR-PH candidate would be a puppet menteri besar.
"There's no point being wishy-washy about it. We are going to address it. That's why we send our big guns to Perak (for both parliamentary and state seats)."
