[UPDATED] If Tok Mat wants it, he can have it: KJ gives up Rembau GE15 candidacy

KUALA LUMPUR – Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has announced that he will not defend his Rembau parliamentary seat in the upcoming 15th general election (GE15) after he has been directed to give way by the deputy president of his party Umno.

Khairy has held the seat for three terms since winning it in the general election of 2008.

He said that he was ordered to not contest in Rembau by Barisan Nasional (BN) deputy chairman, Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, who is also Umno deputy president.

Mohamad reportedly wants to contest in Rembau, Negri Sembilan, to achieve his presence in Parliament and is likely to also defend the Rantau state assembly seat he has held since 2004.

Speaking to reporters today, Khairy said that he has to comply with the order even though he was never prepared to contest in any other parliamentary constituency, considering that he had been in politics for more than 20 years in Rembau.

“He (Mohamad) has already informed me to go to another place. As he is Umno’s Rembau division chief, and I am his deputy, he asked me to find another place because he said he wants to contest in Rembau,” Khairy said.

He said he is unsure what other seat he would be offered as an alternative, and intimated that he may not run in the election if nothing comes his way.

The former Umno Youth chief stressed that he did not expect that he would have to leave Rembau for other political pastures.

He said that even if he wanted to run for a seat elsewhere, he feels ashamed to step into someone else’s area where that person has served and may have been preparing to contest.

“Anyway, as a party member, people know my loyalty. I have never jumped parties, I am Umno. So I follow the instructions of the party leadership,” he was quoted as saying by Berita Harian.

“If the leadership asks me to run in this area, I will accept. If he says not to run, I have to accept because I am a party member. I am okay,” he said.

He also said that he is checking with his colleague if a seat can be offered for him, but it is subject to the instructions of the party leadership.

“But it doesn’t matter, he (Mohamad) wants to run for state assembly, wants to run for Parliament too, we will give him the path. He wants to run for everything,” he was quoted as saying. – The Vibes, September 4, 2022