5 ministers to bow out of GE 13?

It is learnt that Nor Mohamed Yakcop, Rais Yatim and Dr Ng Yen Yen may be dropped, along with Koh Tsu Koon and Peter Chin who had earlier said they had no intention of contesting.

PETALING JAYA: There may be up to five federal ministers who would not be standing in the 13th general election, as the day draws closer for BN to unveil its list of candidates ahead of nomination day next Saturday.

FMT learnt that Minister in the Prime Minister Department Nor Mohamed Yakcop, Tourism Minister Dr Ng Yen Yen and Information, Communications and Culture Minister Rais Yatim are likely to be dropped .

Minister in Prime Minister’s Department Koh Tsu Koon and Enegery, Green Technology and Water Minister Peter Chin had announced earlier that they have no intention to contest.

Meanwhile, Rural and Regional Development Minister Shafie Apdal and Higher Education Minister Khaled Nordin were said to be contesting a state seat in Sabah and Johor respectively as they set their sights on the menteri besar post.

A source from Nor Mohamed’s Tasek Gelugor Umno division told FMT today that the incumbent may be dropped due to his weakness in handling the constituents’ complaints.

“He is an economics man, he doesn’t understand the voters’ need. And he is ageing,” he said.

It is an open secret that former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was the one who wanted Nor

Mohamed for Tasek Gelugor in the 2008 general election, and this came with the condition that Nor Mohamed could only contest there for one term.

However, the source also said former Tasek Gelugor MP Mohd Shariff Omar, who made way for Nor Mohamed in 2008 and still harboured hope of contesting, is unlikely to be fielded again.

“The division only nominated Nor Mohamed and Tasek Gelugor BN chief Shabudin Yahaya as the candidates. If Nor Mohamed is dropped, Shabudin will get the seat,” he said.

Old faces

On the other hand, a Jelebu Umno leader in Negeri Sembilan said Rais has not expressed any intention to retain his Jelebu constituency, fuelling speculations that the 71-year-old MP may bow out of the race.

“He didn’t say whether he wanted to contest or not, but he asked us to work hard and support whoever is fielded by Najib,” Jelebu Umno Wanita chief Zuraidah Mohd Zin said.

The state Umno communication secretary Hasim Rusdi said some of the old faces may be dropped, but declined to elaborate when asked about Rais.

As for Ng, it was reported that the Raub MCA division did not nominate her as candidate.

Division chief Lam Kang Sang told reporters a few days ago that the three-term MP was not featured in the division’s candidate list after Najib told him that he wanted a “winnable candidate”.

Meanwhile, Shafie has reportedly said he is willing to relinquish his parliamentary seat of Semporna to contest a state seat.

Shafie was said to be in Najib’s good books to succeed Musa Aman as Sabah chief minister. But the talk is should he be made a MB, he would let go of his parliamentary seat as a compromise to the Musa faction.

In Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Ismail was in favour of Khaled taking over the menteri besar post.It was reported that the ruler has even attended Khaled’s open house in Pasir Gudang last year.

The full list of BN candidate may be released on Monday or Tuesday.