PETALING JAYA,Nov 17: Veteran Umno leader Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah says the party will contest Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s Pagoh parliamentary seat in the next general election.
According to a report by The Malaysian Insight, Tengku Razaleigh, more commonly known as Ku Li, said Umno would contest seats it used to hold, including those lost through defections.
“My principle is simple, we will contest what was ours. Pagoh and Langkawi were our seats,” he said.
The Langkawi seat is currently held by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Tengku Razaleigh said it was inevitable that Umno and PPBM, led by his former comrades, would clash over Malay seats if they continued to work together.
Now, he said, many in Umno were having second thoughts about working with PPBM as the benefits of teaming up were questionable.
“We are still thinking about it. What do we stand to benefit from standing together with Bersatu (PPBM)? We will have to fight for seats,” he said.
Previously, Barisan Nasional secretary-general Annuar Musa also said BN wants to defend all its traditional seats in the next elections.
Tengku Razaleigh, who is the Umno advisory council chairman, said the party should be given most of the important Cabinet posts because of their influence.
He said he had questioned party leaders when Umno did not get the lion’s share of seats after it decided to back Muhyiddin as prime minister to resolve the political crisis in February.
“(But) they did not have the answers,” he said.
