Ministers Shouldn T Stand In State Polls Say Party Insiders

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Saifuddin Nasution Ismail (PKR), Loke Siew Fook (DAP) and Mohamad Hasan (Umno) are both assemblymen and ministers in the current government.PETALING JAYA: Party insiders from PKR, DAP and Umno believe that three ministers, who are also assemblymen, from the respective parties should sit out the state polls in June.
The three are PKR’s Saifuddin Nasution Ismail (Pantai Jerejak, Penang), DAP’s Loke Siew Fook (Chennah, Negeri Sembilan) and Umno’s Mohamad Hasan (Rantau, Negeri Sembilan).
Saifuddin, a senator, is the home minister while Loke and Mohamad are the transport and defence minister respectively.
According to a party source, Saifuddin is not likely to defend his seat which he won in 2018 as Pulau Jerejak is among the seats Perikatan Nasional is gunning for.
The coalition is said to be banking on the “green wave” to wrest the seat in which Malays make up 38% of the electorate.
The source pointed out that Saifuddin lost Kulim-Bandar Baharu in the last general election to Bersatu’s Roslan Hashim by a majority of over 13,000.
“There are fears that Pantai Jerejak voters too might reject him this time and this will be embarrassing for the government,” the source told FMT.
Saifuddin won by a comfortable majority of 10,716 votes against Gerakan’s Penang chief and national deputy president Oh Tong Keong, Farhan Yusri (PAS) and Yim Boon Leong of the Malaysian United Party.
The source also said ministers were “too busy at the federal level” and might be too preoccupied to attend to their constituents at the state level.
Meanwhile, DAP is said to have yet to decide on allowing Loke to contest, noting that he had been an assemblyman since 2004, in Lobak and Chennah.
A source told FMT that the party was looking into the possibility of Chennah being represented by another DAP candidate.
“Pakatan Harapan’s priority is defending the state, so every seat counts.
“But logically, ministers should not be standing for state seats so they can focus on more important federal matters. There are enough strong candidates at the state level to pick from,” the source said.
An Umno source meanwhile said the party would have to make a difficult decision on whether or not to allow Mohamad to defend his Rantau seat.
Mohamad, better known as Tok Mat, has been the constituent’s representative since 2004 and had retained the seat with huge majorities.
The source added that the candidate in this Malay-majority seat will have a bearing on who the voters choose based on recent political developments in the nation and within the party.
“Although the BN and PH combined won 79% of the votes in Rembau at GE15 which includes Rantau among the four state seats, it is going to be a different story at the state elections.
“There is talk that if anyone other than Tok Mat is fielded, the chances of BN losing is there,” said the source. - FMT

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