Umno Gua Musang rebels upset over Ku Li's choice

By FMT Staff

KUALA LUMPUR: A quiet rebellion is brewing in Gua Musang Umno after Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah's man was picked to contest in the Galas by-election.

The members of the dissenting group were formerly from Semangat 46.

The group has objected to the fielding of Gua Musang Umno secretary Abdul Aziz Yusof as the candidate for the Galas state seat.

During the division election last year, former divisional chief Saufi Deraman -- who had given way to Razaleigh to assume the divisional head post after he returned to Umno from Semagat 46 -- was beaten by a Razaleigh strongman for the deputy's post.

Despite this, the original supporters of Umno retained control of parts of the division, namely the Wanita and Youth wings.

The Wanita wing is headed by Wan Hazani Wan Yusof and the Youth by Bazlan Baharudin. Both leaders are not aligned to Razaleigh.

Besides the duo, 11 other committee members are also against Razaleigh.

In short, Gua Musang Umno is divided between supporters of Razaleigh and Umno.

"We want Saufi to contest. He is the one who has slogged for Gua Musang Umno after Ku Li (Razaleigh) left to lead Semangat 46,” said an upset Umno member who declined to be named.

"When Ku Li chose to return to the Umno fold, Saufi gave way to him out of goodwill and respect.

"But when Ku Li was appointed director, one of his men was chosen to be the candidate," he added.

Influence wilting

The member said Razaleigh's action was “a stab in the back”, which was far more painful for Saufi than his loss in the 2008 general election. He was among seven Gua Musang Umno leaders who had lost in the polls.

The member said Saufi was believed to have been played out by Razaleigh's team in the 2008 polls. He lost to PAS candidate Chek Hasim Sulaima.

"Even if they did not want Saufi this time round, they should have selected Hazani or Bazlan as the candidate," he said.

Meanwhile, Razaleigh's wilting influence in the Galas state constituency is expected to become more and more visible as the polls date approaches.

An independent study has put Razaleigh's personal influence at only 30% in Gua Musang.

There are 11,553 registered voters in Galas, of whom 1,889 or 16.35% are Orang Asli. This is Umno's reserve which it is guarding with its “life”.

This, together with the postal votes, has already given the party a slight edge over PAS.

There are 7,123 Malay and 2,317 Chinese voters in the constituency. These are the groups to woo.