RAMLI Mohd Noor, the highest-ranking Orang Asli police officer in the country’s history is the Barisan Nasional candidate for the Cameron Highlands by-election.

Acting BN chairman and Umno president Mohamad Hasan said the former assistant commissioner of police will reel in the Orang Asli vote.

“I’m sure the Orang Asli will give him 100% support,” he said after announcing Ramli’s candidacy.

Mohamad said Ramli will be fielded as a BN “direct candidate” as was previously done by the coalition in the 2016 Sarawak elections.

“I make this announcement not as a leader of any component party but chairman of Barisan Nasional. This choice is made in the best interests of BN… I would like to thank the MIC for giving way.

“I believe this choice of candidate will strike fear in Pakatan Harapan.”

Mohamad also said PAS will not be fielding any candidate. “It’s up to them whether they want to help or not.”

Ramli did not speak during the press conference.

The Orang Asli are the majority in nine of the 29 voting districts while Muslims comprise 34% of the voters in the seat. 

Ramli, 60, is of the Semai tribe and hails from Pos Mensoon, Ringlet, according to a 2015 interview by The New Straits Times.

He served as commercial crimes division chief in Penang and Negri Sembilan and has a master’s in public administration from the University of East London. He is currently a business studies PhD candidate at the International University Malaya-Wales.

Ramli, the eldest among seven siblings, was inspired to pursue a career in law enforcement by his father, Mohd Nor Abdullah, a founding member of Senoi Praaq, a jungle fighting force now part of the General Operations Force.

The squad was trained by the British Special Air Service to counter communists in the deep recesses of the jungles.

The election court nullified the May 9 results of the Cameron Highlands seat after finding evidence of corruption to induce voters to vote for MIC vice-president C. Sivarraajh, the BN candidate who won the five-cornered fight.

In GE14, Sivarraajh won 10,307 votes, gaining a slim 597-vote majority over DAP candidate M. Manogaran (9,710). 

In that election, PAS garnered 3,587 votes, PSM (680) and Berjasa (81).

Cameron Highlands was one of two parliamentary seats MIC won in GE14.

Manogaran is again the PH candidate this by-election. – January 10, 2019.