After squeezing Khairy out of Rembau, Tok Mat insists Sungai Buloh ‘very safe’

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 3 — Incumbent Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin was certain to win the Sungai Buloh seat as it was “very safe”, Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan has claimed.

The Umno leader commonly called Tok Mat, who will contest the Rembau seat after Khairy’s three terms there, insisted that the Malay majority in Sungai Buloh — over 70 per cent currently — meant the latter should have no problem winning it from Pakatan Harapan.

“Contrary to what is being said by some people, Sungai Buloh is a very safe seat for Barisan (Nasional),” he was quoted as saying by The Star.

“I am sure that KJ will win there,” he said, adding that the Sungai Buloh Umno division welcomed Khairy to contest there and would support his campaign.

Earlier today, PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli claimed Umno’s move to shift Khairy from Rembau to Sungai Buloh was akin to “putting a sword in (Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s) hand to cut him off (from Umno).”

During the aftermath of BN’s 2018 general election defeat, Khairy had contested unsuccessfully against Ahmad Zahid for the Umno presidency.

Mohamad rejected such views, however, and insisted that contesting in Sungai Buloh would “be good for KJ, who has a long and bright future in Umno.”

On his own candidacy in the Rembau seat, he said Umno would have to work hard as automatic voter registration has increased the number of eligible voters from some 97,000 to 135,000.

“It is very important that our election machinery gets to the ground and convince voters that Barisan, which has an excellent track record managing this country, is the best choice.

“They should be told of the damage that the Pakatan government did to this country over 22 months after they won in GE14,” he said.

The Sungai Buloh seat is among constituencies newly created during the 2018 redelineation and was won by PKR’s R. Sivarasa, who moved there after two terms as the Subang MP.

In the 14th general election, Sivarasa won the seat with a majority of 26,634 votes.

However, Khairy will not face Sivarasa as PKR has announced former MIC treasurer-general Datuk R. Ramakishnan for the seat.

Earlier today, Rafizi suggested that Sivarasa might be retained to defend the seat against Khairy, but said the decision would be up to PH chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

According to GE14 statistics, the Sungai Buloh constituency was 66 per cent Malay, 22 per cent Chinese, 11 per cent Indian, and voters of other ethnicities comprising the remainder.