Bersatu’s Sikamat candidate Datuk Tun Faisal Ismail Aziz has blamed a breakdown in seat-allocation arrangements involving Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) for triggering the constituency’s three-cornered contest.
Tun Faisal, who is facing Pakatan Harapan’s Nor Azman Mohamad and PN’s Datuk Razali Abu Samah, rejected suggestions that his candidacy was responsible for splitting the Opposition vote.
He claimed BN and PN had disregarded previous seat-negotiation conventions by fielding candidates in constituencies where Bersatu contested straight fights during the previous Negeri Sembilan state election.
“Bersatu was not involved in any of the seat negotiations that were said to involve the so-called Opposition coalition,” he said to BusinessToday.
Nevertheless, Tun Faisal said his campaign would focus on Sikamat’s ageing infrastructure, traffic congestion, road safety, employment opportunities, affordable housing and unresolved efforts to convert leasehold land to freehold status.
He also pledged stronger assistance for senior citizens, single mothers, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups.
Tun Faisal said the Sikamat pledges form part of Bersatu’s wider state manifesto, which contains 76 policy commitments across nine pillars covering economic development, public welfare, governance and the preservation of Negeri Sembilan’s customs and heritage.
Should he win, his first 100-day plan includes opening an accessible constituency service centre, auditing public facilities, forming a traffic action committee and establishing a land-status task force to accelerate the resolution of conversion issues.
He also proposed studying the need for a strategically located fire and rescue station, holding regular engagements with community organisations and publishing progress reports to improve transparency and accountability.
