FORMER Umno president Najib Razak and former menteri besar Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo are among the names touted to succeed Ismail Sabri Yaakob as the Selangor Umno liaison chief, said party sources.

A third contender is Gombak division chief Megat Zulkarnain Omar Din but he is not a frontrunner, said the sources, as Selangor Umno continues to be wracked by the infighting that had commenced when the state was lost to Pakatan Harapan in the 2008 general election.

“Umno division leaders are lobbying for support for their respective candidates,” a party insider told The Malaysian Insight.

“There’s Najib’s name, there’s Khir Toyo and Megat. Let’s see what happens after the Semenyih by-election.”

The Malaysian Insight learnt that Najib, who was Selangor Umno liaison chief in 2009, has rejected the offer in view of his graft trial which is set to begin on Tuesday.

Ismail, who is party vice-president, was appointed last July to lead Umno Selangor with a brief to restructure the state unit. The party had had a difficult time finding a replacement for Tanjung Karang MP Noh Omar, who had led Umno Selangor during the May general election.

But the leader from Pahang is having a tough time uniting the warring factions in Selangor.

Party elections last year had resulted in the stunning defeats of 11 out of 22 division chiefs, who were replaced by new faces.

Such a situation had made it difficult to pick a new liaison chief prompting the newly minted party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to appoint Ismail as the state chief.

According to another source who attended a Selangor Umno meeting last week, the majority of the division chiefs favour Khir for the post despite his conviction for graft.

“Khir Toyo has power in terms of influence and finance. He can also lead.

“He has paid the price for his mistakes. Nobody can dredge up the past anymore as he has been punished. He has a clean slate now, ” the source said.

On September  22 2015, Khir began serving a one-year jail sentence for graft. 

He had purchased for himself and his wife two lots of land and a bungalow in Seksyen 7, Shah Alam, from Ditamas Sdn Bhd director Shamsuddin Hayroni. Khir had paid RM3.5 million for the land and bungalow which Ditamas had acquired for RM6.5 million in 2004.

Khir was granted parole after serving six months in Kajang Prison and has since sought to revive his political career.

The source said there were some new division heads who felt the Selangor liaison chief’s post should go to one of them.

Meanwhile, Ismail was leaving the post as he did not want to juggle its responsibilities with his duties as the Umno deputy president. – February 10, 2019.