SUNGAI BULOH: Khairy Jamaluddin says he will be facing the toughest fight in his political career in a seven-cornered contest for the Sungai Buloh parliamentary seat.
However, the three-term Rembau MP said it was not a disadvantage but a challenge to bring Barisan Nasional’s fight to the urban constituency.
“I won three elections in a row in Rembau. Now I have come to a constituency which we lost three elections in a row. But I am up for the challenge and hope that the Sungai Buloh people will give me a chance.
“I hope to serve the people of Sungai Buloh and that they will enable me to serve the country,” he told reporters after filing his nomination papers at Dewan Kenanga, Petaling District and Land Office, here on Saturday (Nov 5).
Asked about speculation that this could be the end of his political career if he loses, Khairy, who is popularly known as KJ, merely said: “I am not ready to go yet.”
On three-term former Sungai Buloh MP R. Sivarasa’s comment that “a vote for Khairy means a vote to Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi”, he said that “one vote to KJ in Sungai Buloh is a vote to KJ.”
“This narrative must be explained now that the candidate for the prime minister post is Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob. I will support him as the candidate for the post as announced by Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid himself; no confusion there,” he said.
Khairy, who is also Health Minister, will go up against Pakatan Harapan’s Datuk R. Ramanan and Perikatan Nasional’s Mohd Ghazali Md Hamin from PAS.
The other contenders are Mohd Akmal Mohd Yusoff (Pejuang), Ahmad Jufliz Faiza (Parti Rakyat Malaysia) and independent candidates Nurhaslinda Basri and Syed Abdul Razak Syed Long Alsagoff, who caught some attention with his yellow “Phua Chu Kang” boots from the popular TV series.
In 2018, Sivarasa of PKR won the seat with a majority of 26,634 votes. He is not defending the seat due to health reasons.
According to returning officer Mohd Jusni Hashim, there are 158,090 voters in the constituency. – Bernama