Saiful Bukhari shakes hand with former boss 

PORT DICKSON, Sept 29 (Bernama) -- The brief encounter between Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his former assistant cum independent candidate, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan stole the limelight at the nomination of candidates for the Port Dickson parliamentary by-election today.

Mohd Saiful Bukhari, 33, wearing a dark coat was seen shaking hands with Anwar who was dressed in a light blue baju Melayu as soon as the PKR de facto leader handed in his nomination forms this morning.

Mohd Saiful Bukhari however was not seated at the same table with his former employer and chose to be seated with several other independent candidates including former Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad while waiting for his submission of nomination forms to be completed.

Less than 20 minutes later, the murmurings at Port Dickson Municipal Council (MPPD) Hall grew louder when Mohd Saiful Bukhari was seen standing up and walking to Anwar's table before shaking hands again with him and taking a seat next to Anwar. 

All eyes were on the two who were seen greeting each other before Anwar rose and moved to another section in the hall.

The Port Dickson by-election is seeing a seven-cornered fight involving Anwar, Mohd Saiful Bukhari , Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) retiree Lieutenant Colonel (R) Mohd Nazari Mokhtar (PAS) and four other independent candidates including Mohd Isa.

Also standing for the by-election were social media personality Stevie Chan Keng Leong, Kan Chee Yuen and Lau Seck Yan, as independent candidates.

The Port Dickson parliamentary by-election was held after its incumbent Datuk Danyal Balagopal Abdullah, 68, vacated the seat on Sept 12 to give way to Anwar for him to return to Dewan Rakyat.

In the 14th general election on May 9, Danyal Balagopal won the seat with a comfortable 17, 710 votes to defeat BN's Datuk V.S. Mogan and Mahfuz Roslan of PAS.

-- BERNAMA