Anwar names ally Maszlee as PKR candidate in Johor polls

PKR president Anwar Ibrahim has named Maszlee Malik as one of the party’s candidates for the upcoming Johor polls.

Maszlee, a first-term MP, will be contesting in the Layang-Layang state seat, which comes under the Simpang Renggam federal seat which he won as a Bersatu candidate in 2018.

PKR is joining the Johor polls outside of the Pakatan Harapan coalition led by its president, and has opted to use its own oval-shaped logo citing its failure to win any seats in the recent Melaka election.

Anwar’s annnouncement that Maszlee will represent PKR comes on the back of an idea that the former education minister, who served less than 20 months before resigning from Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Cabinet in 2020, should be the opposition’s candidate for Johor menteri besar.

Maszlee, who is active in several Islamist organisations, has been an ardent supporter of Anwar.

In October 2020, MalaysiaNow reported that Maszlee signed a statutory declaration to support Anwar as a prime ministerial candidate, joining Umno leaders Najib Razak and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who also wrote a letter to the palace backing the opposition leader.