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Saturday, 2 October 2010

Ku Li undecided over Galas campaign

Tengku Razaleigh's twit suggest that the Kelantan prince may not be as enthused as his Umno mates about the by-election.
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 1 — Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah remains undecided over his role in the Galas by-election, saying today he will only ‘clarify’ matters when he returns to Malaysia next week.

The Kelantan prince’s response comes hours after Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said that Tengku Razaleigh is the best candidate to win back the Galas state seat from PAS.

“Dear friends, I have not said yes or no. I will clarify re: Galas once I’m back in Malaysia,” the Gua Musang MP said in a posting on his Twitter micro-blogging account.

The Galas state seat fell vacant with the death of PAS lawmaker Che Hashim Sulaima on Monday, triggering the country’s 12th by-election since Election 2008.

Gua Musang Umno division deputy chief Mat Yusof Abdul Ghani agreed with Muhyiddin that Tengku Razaleigh was the best choice for the seat.

“I am confident he can win if selected,” Mat Yusof told The Malaysian Insider.

The politician popularly known as Ku Li has won the Gua Musang parliamentary seat in every election since 1969, including the 1990 and 1995 polls when he was leading Semangat 46 after Umno was declared illegal in 1988.

"Tengku Razaleigh is the best choice for the Galas seat. He has a good reputation in Gua Musang and is respected by all parties," said Mat Yusof, echoing Muhyiddin's remarks.

Muhyiddin had also said Umno would discuss the matter further with the Kelantan once he returns home from abroad on October 9.

He also expressed confidence that Tengku Razaleigh’s appointment as Galas election director was the “right step” to ensure a Barisan Nasional (BN) victory in the constituency.

PAS however has said it is ready to face any opponents for the seat, telling Umno to step aside if it was serious about Malay unity.

Umno is not buying the pitch, with party president Datuk Seri Najib Razak vowing to win back the seat which Che Hashim captured by a majority of 646 votes in Election 2008.

The Malays make up 65.81 per cent of the more than 10,000 voters in the state constituency, the Chinese 22.03 per cent, Indians 1.81 per cent, while other races are at 10.32 per cent.

Two other state seats in the Gua Musang constituency — Nenggiri and Paloh — were won by BN with majority of 2,090 vote and 2,833 votes respectively.

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