KUALA LUMPUR – Datuk Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, former political secretary to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, is eyeing to contest the Langkawi parliamentary seat against incumbent Parliament member (MP) Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in the coming 15th general election (GE15).
Ezam will contest as an independent or as a candidate of any party that would accept him, said Pertubuhan Perubahan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerak) secretary general Syed Putra Syed Isa.
FMT reported Syed Isa as saying that the decision was made as there are demands from many parties for the organisation to place a candidate to contest against Dr Mahathir, who is Pejuang chairman and a former prime minister.
“Dr Mahathir remains the main threat towards the reform agenda in this country and it is the duty of Gerak Malaysia to place a candidate that can give fierce competition for GE15,” he said.
Previously, Dr Mahathir had won the Langkawi seat under the Pakatan Harapan ticket when he defeated Umno’s Datuk Nawawi Ahmad and PAS’ Zubir Ahmad with an 8,893 vote majority in the general election of May 2018.
His then-party Bersatu has since left PH, and Dr Mahathir quit the party to co-found Pejuang.
Ezam, who is also Gerak chairman, verified to FMT that he intends to contest the seat to compete against Dr Mahathir.
Ezam was a close aide of Anwar when the latter was deputy prime minister in the 1990s with Umno.
He also supported Anwar after he was sacked by then-prime minister Dr Mahathir from the government and Umno in 1998.
However, he had a falling out with Anwar some years later and rejoined Umno. – The Vibes, October 14, 2022
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