BARISAN Nasional’s (BN) Sungai Buloh candidate Khairy Jamaluddin today rubbished suggestions that voting for him in the upcoming general election meant that voters are backing coalition chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to become prime minister.

“A vote for Khairy in Sungai Buloh literally means one vote for me here,” the health minister said after completing the nomination process at the Petaling district office complex.

Khairy firmly reiterated that Ismail Sabri Yaakob is BN’s nominated prime minister should it win, not Zahid.

“This narrative (of Zahid being PM) has to be explained here and now. Our candidate is Ismail, as mentioned by Zahid. No confusion there,” he said, after Sungai Buloh MP R. Sivarasa said voting for Khairy would indirectly mean backing Umno chairman Zahid.

“Khairy as an individual is nothing but the people have to look at who he represents. That is relevant.

“Who does he represent? Zahid. Who is Zahid? Someone about to be convicted as a criminal.

“That is who Khairy brings here and represents. Voters should look at that,” Sivarasa said today when he turned up at the polling to show his support for Ramanan Ramakrishnan, Pakatan Harapan’s planned replacement for him.

Sungai Buloh is set to be a seven-way tussle with two independents also in the fray.  

Besides Khairy and Ramanan, the other candidates are Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) Mohd Ghazali Md Hamin, Pejuang’s Mohd Akmal Mohd Yusoff, Parti Rakyat Malaysia’s (PRM) Ahmad Jufliz Faiza, and the independents Syed Abdul Razak Syed Long Alsagoff and Nurhaslinda Basri.  

Khairy admitted that winning in an opposition stronghold will be an uphill batle.

However, he remains optimistic that the voters will give him a chance to represent them.

“I’ve represented Rembau for the past three terms. “Now, I have come to an area where we have lost three-elections in a row, but I’m up for the challenge.

“(This) not going to be easy at all. This is the toughest fight in my political career,” he said.

Sungai Buloh is set to be a key battleground in the election, with more than 67,000 additional first-time ballots due to be cast after the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 and automatic voter registration was implemented in September. – November 5, 2022.