Health Minister Seeks Pas Vaccine To Save Political Career

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Khairy Jamaluddin, who claimed that Umno had given him no choice but to contest in the PKR stronghold of Sungai Buloh, is hoping to secure a lifeline from PAS.
His survival hinges on the Malay votes and PAS can help tilt the balance in his favour.
Under the “First-Past-The-Post” system, the votes for Selangor PAS might not necessarily translate into seats but the Islamist party could be the kingmaker in several hot constituencies.
PAS is contesting eight parliamentary seats in Selangor, one of them is Sungai Buloh.
In GE14, PAS was the runner-up in Sungai Buloh with 16,997 or 21.8 percent votes, slightly more than MIC’s 16,681 or 21.4 percent votes.
For this contest, how PAS supporters and swing voters cast their ballots would determine the outcome.
Both perish, or KJ survives
During a ceramah on Tuesday night, Khairy reached out to PAS supporters by describing himself as the party’s “BFF” (best friend forever).
The caretaker health minister also claimed to be good friends with his former cabinet colleagues from PAS such as Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, Takiyuddin Hasan and Idris Ahmad - vowing to take care of PAS supporters if he is elected.
Khairy, who had to step aside from his Rembau seat in Negeri Sembilan for Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan, also noted that Sungai Buloh has 65 percent Malay voters and if they voted for the same candidate, the person was bound to win.
He also warned that the split of votes between Umno and PAS would result in both parties’ candidates losing.
“The problem is two major Malay parties are contesting … it's not that we don’t like the PAS candidate (Mohd Ghazali Md Hamin), but looking at the probability, who has a bigger chance of winning?
“I think I have a better chance of winning. If PAS supporters vote for Ghazali, both of us are going to lose.
“I understand that PAS can’t campaign for me, but you can whisper, and when you go to the voting station, you look for KJ’s name and vote for KJ, I will take care of PAS members as Sungai Buloh MP,” he added.
He then shouted “Takbir” three times and the supporters reciprocated with “Allahu Akbar”.
Engineer vs ‘handsome’ minister
However, Ghazali was not pleased. “If I win, I can even be the MP for DAP members,” he replied when asked about Khairy’s proposal.
For this election, the PAS campaign in Sungai Buloh has focused on Ghazali’s professional background as an engineer and one of his former firm’s projects is the Suke Highway.
PN’s Sungai Buloh aspirant Mohd Ghazali Md HaminTalking to supporters in Mutiara Subang last night, the candidate also told them that he is a committee member of the Kota Damansara mosque and the founding president of NGO, Dapur Rakyat Subang.
Sungai Buloh is a typical urban mixed seat with 22 percent Chinese, 11 percent Indians and two percent other races.
This was MIC’s traditional seat until the 2008 general when it was won by PKR’s R Sivarasa, who then retained it in the 2013 and 2018 polls.
However, PKR has now replaced him with a new face – R Ramanan. This could also work to Khairy’s advantage.
Deploying Khairy disrupted PAS’ plan
Meanwhile, a PAS supporter, who only wanted to be known as Rahim, told Malaysiakini that his party was hoping to garner more Malay votes if BN had fielded an Indian candidate against Pakatan Harapan’s Indian candidate.
This strategy worked in the Malacca state election last November. During that time, PN/Bersatu fielded Mohd Yadzil Yaakub in the Bemban state seat to contest with Chinese candidates from DAP and MCA.
Eventually, Yadzil won with a 328 majority.
Khairy’s opponent from PAS, Ghazali, also conceded that he is in for a tough fight since he is up against a ministerial candidate, who is also “handsome”. - Mkini

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