Apr 6, 2013-Political secretary to the prime minister, Shafie Abdullah(pic) may well be the choice for the Wangsa Maju parliamentary seat in the fast-approaching general election, hinted the deputy prime minister.
Muhyiddin Yassin (right) mentioned this while delivering his speech earlier today, in which he alluded that the BN coalition may field an Umno candidate there this time around.
“We want the rakyat to support whichever (BN) candidate. If Shafie becomes a candidate, okay. If any other candidate, that is also okay,” he said outside the Madrasah Al-Islahiyah Al-Diniyah in Wangsa Maju.
If his candidacy comes to pass, Shafie could find himself facing PKR disciplinary committee chairperson Dr Tan Kee Kwong, who is tipped to be PKR’s choice.
Tan is a former land and cooperative development deputy minister who joined PKR three years ago.
Disunity within BN
However, the appointment of the Wangsa Maju Umno division chief would strain ties with MCA which has been long vying for the parliamentary seat.
Even so, mention of Shafie’s name by Muhyiddin caused some 30 people, including members of the Federation of Peninsular Malay Students (GPMS) and Belia 4B who had thbeen gathering there earlier, to break into cheerng.
The group was spotted carrying posters and banners sporting battle cries like , “Belia 4B supports Shafie”, “GPMS likes Shafie” and “Return Umno to Wangsa Maju”.
When met by Malaysiakini later, Shafie was hopeful of his candidacy, saying “insya Allah” when asked if he would be contesting in Wangsa Maju.
MCA had previously accused Shafie of disrespecting the former after he handed out RM100 school aid to parents in all Keramat district schools last January.
The party said Shafie had monopolised opportunities accorded by the district education office and caused disunity within the Wangsa Maju BN.
It further insisted that the party’s Wangsa Maju chief Yew Teong Lock should represent BN there in the coming polls as he has been serving the constituents.
Meanwhile, some 500 residents showed their support for Yew to remain as Wangsa Maju candidate in a gathering last night, according to a report in Sin Chew Daily.
The residents are from 41 Chinese clan and temple NGOs. However, Yew did not show up at the gathering.
Yew was MP there from 2004 to 2008, until felled by Wee Choo Keong, who ran under a PKR ticket in the last polls. Wee is now a BN-friendly Independent MP.
‘Let’s get rid of corrupt, evil regime’
Meanwhile, commenting on Shafie’s possible candidacy, the soft-spoken Tan said it did not matter whether the party taking him on was from Umno or the MCA, as long as the voters were united to get rid of “utterly corrupt and evil regime”.
“I think the people in the constituency, and also in Kuala Lumpur, are exploding in terms of the level of corruption of the BN politicians and hopefully, we will depend on this strong feeling for them to vote for PKR and Pakatan,” Tan said.
However, the son of former Socialist Front and Gerakan leader Dr Tan Chee Khoon rates his chances of winning as 50-50 because of fraud expected from the presence of dubious voters.
