THE November 19 general election, dubbed as “the mother of all elections” by some, will witness bouts featuring several party heavyweights.

Although all eyes are expected to be on the big names, the attention will also be on a group of former PKR lawmakers whose defections in February 2020 played a vital role in the fall of the Pakatan Harapan government.

These defectors – termed as “traitors” by PKR president Anwar Ibrahim – are contesting in the polls under different party banners.

While PKR is going all out to “teach” these traitors a lesson by winning back the seats, the party’s optimism is shared by analysts, who said they will find it difficult to win.

“I think most of the defectors will lose support and probably even lose their seats,” International Islamic University Malaysia’s Tunku Mohar Tunku Mohd Mokhtar said.

“They have lost their support base (by defecting). Neutrals may also show their disapproval for their act.”

Singapore Institute of International Affairs’ senior fellow Dr Oh Ei Sun also said that the defectors, except for one, can forget about winning.

“In their wildest of dreams,” he said of their chances of victory.

Oh, however, was convinced that Larry Sng could win the Julau seat.

“Larry will win hands down once again as his constituency is remote, where development aid features prominently,” he said.

Here is the list of the defected lawmakers:

Mohamed Azmin Ali

Azmin, former PKR deputy president and allaged mastermind of the Sheraton Move, is defending his Gombak parliamentary seat on the Perikatan Nasional (PN) ticket.

The former Selangor menteri besar faces his ex-ally and successor Amirudin Shari, and three others – Barisan Nasional’s Megat Zulkarnain Omardin, Pejuang’s Aziz Jamaludin and Independent candidate Dzulkefly Ahmad. 

Azmin has served as Gombak MP for three terms, contesting under the PKR banner. In 2018, he won the seat with a 48,721-vote majority.

He is now in Bersatu and was appointed senior minister in both Muhyiddin Yassin’s and Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s administration.

Zuraida Kamaruddin

Zuraida was PKR vice-president and the incumbent Ampang MP.

She won the seat by a majority of 41,956, contesting for PKR in the 2018 polls, but is defending her seat under the Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) banner.

Following the Sheraton Move, Zuraida followed Azmin to Bersatu before quitting to join PBM.

In this election, Zuraida faces eight opponents in Ampang. They are Rodziah Ismail (Pakatan Harapan), Ivone Low Yi Wen (Barisan Nasional), Sasha Lyna Abdul Latif (PN), Dr Nurul Ashikin Mabahwi (Pejuang), Lai Wai Chong (Warisan) and three Independent candidates – M, Raveendran, Muhammad Shafiq Izwan Mohd Yunos and Tan Hua Meng.

Zuraida was also a minister in the two governments that came after the PH administration.

Saifuddin Abdullah

The former Umno politician switched alliance to PKR in 2015 before moving to Bersatu in 2020.

The caretaker foreign minister won the Indera Mahkota seat in 2018 on the PH ticket. He defeated BN’s Johan Mat Sah by a majority of 10,950 votes.

In this election, the Pahang PN chairman is defending his seat against three other candidates – Quek Tai Seong of BN, Zuraifi Ismail of PH and Dr Mohamad Nor Sundari of Pejuang.

Kamarudin Jaffar

Kamarudin has been a member of three major political parties – Umno, PAS and PKR – before switching to Bersatu in 2020.

The caretaker deputy foreign minister won the Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary seat in 2018 with a majority of 19,930 votes.

In this election, Kamarudin is in a tough battle where he faces PKR adviser and wife of party president Anwar Ibrahim, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, and BN-MCA’s Chew Yin Kee.

Mansor Othman

Mansor, once served as a political secretary to Anwar before contesting and winning the Nibong Tebal parliamentary seat in the 2013 general election and again, in 2018.

In the last general election, Mansor won the seat with a 15,817-vote majority.

He then ditched PKR to join Bersatu in 2020.

Mansor faces a four-cornered fight for the Nibong Tebal seat in this election, where he is up against Malaysia Makkal Sakti Party president R.S. Thanenthiran (BN), Fadhlina Sidek (PH) and Goh Kheng Huat (Independent).

Mohd Rashid Hasnon

Rashid made his parliamentary debut in 2018, contesting the Batu Pahat seat under the PKR banner. He won with a 17,895-vote majority.

Rashid, who served as the Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker, is now defending the seat for Bersatu, which is a component party of PN.

He faces four challengers – Onn Abu Bakar (PH), Ishak @ Mohd Farid Siraj (BN), Zahari Osman (Parti Rakyat Malaysia) and Nizam Bashir Abdul Kariem Bashir (Pejuang).

Ali Biju

Ali, the incumbent Saratok MP, is in a three-cornered tussle in this election to defend the seat he won in 2018 on the PH ticket.

In 2018, Ali won by 11,848-vote margin in a straight fight against Progressive Democratic Party’s (PDP) Subeng Mula, who represented Barisan Nasional.

Ali, who switched from PKR to Bersatu following the Sheraton Move, is representing PN in this election.

In a three-way battle, the incumbent faces Ibil Jaya, who is representing PH and Giendam Jonathan Tait of Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), who is from PDP.

Willie Mongin

Willie was with PKR from 2009 until 2020.

He made his parliamentary election debut in 2013, where he lost to BN’s James Dawos Mamit in Mambong.

In 2018, he contested and won the Puncak Borneo parliamentary seat for PH with a majority of 4,005 votes in a three-cornered battle.

Willie quit PKR and joined Bersatu after the collapse of the PH government in 2020, but applied to join Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu earlier this year and was accepted.

The Puncak Borneo incumbent faces Diog Dios of PKR and Iana Akam of Parti Sarawak Bersatu in this election.

Jonathan Yasin

Jonathan, the incumbent Ranau MP, who won the seat for PH in 2018, is going into this election as a Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) candidate representing Bersatu.

In 2018, Jonathan won with a 1,076-vote majority in a four-cornered battle.

In this election, Ranau will see a five-cornered fight, including an intra-pact clash of two candidates.

BN component party Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah has fielded former federal minister Ewon Ebin.

The others contesting the seat are PH’s Taufik Dahlan, Warisan’s Markos Situn and Pejuang’s Azizul Julirin.

Baru Bian

During the 2020 political crisis, Baru was among the lawmakers who left PKR but he went on to become an Independent.

In this election, the Selangau incumbent, unlike others, is not defending his seat. Instead, he moves to Lawas.

He takes on incumbent Henry Sum Agong of GPS and Japar Suyut of his former party, PKR.

Larry Sng

Sng was not among the 11 MPs who defected in February 2020, but he left PKR a year later.

He won the Julau parliamentary seat in 2018 as an Independent candidate, defeating Joseph Salang of BN by 1,931-vote majority and later joined PKR.

Sng left PKR to become Independent again last year, a  year after the Sheraton Move, to pledge his support for PN chairman Muhyiddin, who was the prime minister then.

Later that year, he joined PBM and is now defending the seat under the newly formed party’s banner.

The incumbent faces former four-term Julau MP Joseph Salang Gandum of GPS, Susan George @ Suhana Abdullah of Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak and Independent candidate Elly Lawai.

Apart from the names mentioned above, the other MPs who also quit PKR to join Bersatu are former party vice-president Xavier Jeyakumar and former Segamat MP Edmund Santhara.

Xavier quit PKR last year to become an Independent and backed then prime minister Muhyiddin. He joined PBM last month.

Meanwhile, Santhara hopped over to Bersatu following the Sheraton Move in February 2020 and last month, he, too, joined PBM.

Both have decided not to contest in this election. – November 6, 2022.