Of sexual harassment and possible by-election

On March 4, former Menteri Besar of Perlis, Shahidan Kassim finally present for his court hearing after failing to attend for the past three times. His trial was set to commence on March 18 and 19.

Previously in October 2018, Shahidan was caught into the scandal of sexually harassing a minor. At that time, the media reported that a Perlis parliamentary was involve in the scandal, without revealing the suspect identity.

Being the smallest state in Malaysia, Perlis only consist of three parliamentary members. Swiftly, the netizens speculate that the suspect is Shahidan Kassim.

Later, he revealed that he is the person involve in the scandal but plead not guilty to the offence.

Despite the ongoing scandal, Shahidan did not completely disappear from the political scene. He gave some comments to support UMNO, such as saying that Pakatan Harapan is an “anti-Islam” government and also it is best for the coalition to not field a candidate to oppose Mohamad Hasan.

However, there is not much of influencers in the topic of “Shahidan Kassim”.

This indicate that other UMNO members are disassociating themselves from Shahidan. Mohamad Hasan was associated with him due to their meet-up dinner with Mahathir in October 2018. Plus, Mohamad Hasan, Najib Razak, Ismail Sabri along with Shahidan Kassim were present during the announcement of BN victory for Semenyih by-election.

As a conclusion, Shahidan’s career is depending on the outcome of his sexual assault trial. If he were to be found guilty, there will be another by-election. This the destination will be Arau.