Confirmed: BN picks ex-Orang Asli top cop for Cameron Highlands

CAMERON POLLS | BN has confirmed former top police officer Ramli Mohd Noor as its pick to contest the Jan 26 Cameron Highlands by-election.

Malaysiakini learnt from a source that this was decided in a meeting with top BN leadership last night.

Meanwhile, the source added that one of the reasons MIC was not contesting the seat was due to a lack of funds.

The Cameron Highlands parliament constituency comprises 22 percent Orang Asli voters and 34 percent Malays, Chinese 30 percent and Indians 15 percent. 

Ramli belongs to the Semai tribe, which forms the bulk of the Orang Asli communities there.  He is also the treasurer for the Peninsular Malaysia Orang Asli Association.

Speculation had been rife that BN would field Ramli, who in 2015 became the highest ranking Orang Asli police officer in the nation’s history, as a means to woo the Orang Asli voting bloc. 

"Ramli's selection was agreed to by all BN component parties. Even MIC agreed to field the former cop.

"He (Ramli), who is from the Orang Asli community and is a Muslim, is seen as an advantage in bringing in the Orang Asli and Malay voters.

"This is especially as the Orang Asli votes would be the decider," the source said today.

Breaking tradition

The former Penang Commercial Crime Department chief, however, had yesterday refused to comment on his probable candidacy, saying the decision to field him lay in the hands of acting Umno chief Mohamad Hasan. 

Ramli is currently not a member of Umno or any other political party. 

This marks a departure from convention as the constituency is MIC's traditional seat. 

The seat was won in the 14th general election by the party's candidate C Sivarraajh with a slim 597-vote majority.

However, the seat was declared vacant by the Election Court in November last year, after it was determined that corrupt practices led to the BN's win.

Although MIC did not appeal the Election Court's decision to vacate the seat, Sivarraajh is challenging the Election Commission's (EC) decision to disallow him from contesting there again.

Sivarrajh was also disallowed from voting in any election for the next five years.

He was on Monday granted leave by the High Court in Kuala Lumpur to challenge the EC decision. His case is to set to appear before the same court later today.

 - Mkini