KUALA
LUMPUR, June 8 — At least two Umno leaders are scrambling for the
Kepala Batas federal seat as incumbent Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has
declined Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s offer to defend the seat, a move seen
as the prime minister’s way to keep winnable seats and regain the
Barisan Nasional’s (BN) two-thirds majority.
The Malaysian Insiderunderstands
that Kepala Batas Umno Youth chief Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina
Merican and former Malaysian ambassador to the Philippines, Datuk Seri
Ibrahim Saad, the former Tasik Gelugor MP and deputy minister, are in
the running to replace Abdullah(picture), who has kept the seat since 1978.
“Ibrahim seems to have the upper hand with his old boys network while Reezal is seen as a mamak,” a source told The Malaysian Insider, referring to Reezal’s South Indian Muslim ancestry.
“But Pak Lah wants Reezal to replace him,” said the source, referring to the former prime minister’s moniker.
It is learnt that some Umno people are not comfortable with Reezal’s
candidature due to his ancestry and the fact that adjoining seat is
represented by Tan Sri Mohd Nor Yackop, who is also of South Indian
ancestry.
Ibrahim, who was Penang deputy chief minister when BN ruled the state,
is seen as a frontrunner as he is seen to be close to Najib. Both were
members of the Wawasan Team that swept through the Umno party elections
in 2004.
The Malaysian Insider reported
in February that the former prime minister has been approached to
defend the seat as the amiable leader is one of the “winnable
candidates” sought by Umno president and PM Najib.
Abdullah, who was prime minister from 2003 to 2009, won the Kepala Batas
seat for the eighth time in 2008 with a majority of 11,246 votes when
he polled 23,445 against PAS’s Subri Mohd Arshad who garnered 12,199
votes.
Analysts and critics say Najib wants to ensure an all-out victory
although it is difficult for the country’s sixth prime minister to match
his predecessor’s performance in the 2004 and 2008 elections.
Abdullah won 91 per cent of the 222-seat Dewan Rakyat in Parliament in
2004 but lost the two-thirds majority when his coalition only took 140
federal seats and eight of the 13 state assemblies in 2008.
Najib and his deputy Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin have spent the past few
months criss-crossing the country to gauge BN’s readiness for the
general election, which must be called by the middle of 2013. PR parties
have said they will not call for snap polls in the four states they
control until after this month.
Analysts have predicted that BN will call for the election before or
after tabling the Budget 2013 this September 28 as it needs time to get
the goodies to the ground.
BN is also seen to delay elections as it tries to overcome a scandal
involving cattle-farming project National Feedlot Centre (NFC) where the
family of Wanita Umno chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil have been
accused of abusing a RM250 million soft loan for their own ventures.
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