Sacked Bersatu man blasts ex-boss for playing race card

 

Noor Effandi Ahmad, the only one to sit out of the Malacca polls, from four assemblypersons who were responsible for bringing down Sulaiman Md Ali's Umno-Bersatu state government, has emerged in the tail-end of the campaign period.

Taking aim at Malacca Bersatu chief Mohd Rafiq Naizamohideen, he criticised Rafiq for playing the race card.

"I believe we are no longer living in a time when we (can) play politics of racial sentiment in front of the Malays, but then we say something else in front of the Chinese," he told a press conference in Telok Mas, Malacca today.

Noor Effandi, who is the incumbent Telok Mas assemblyperson, was sacked from Bersatu after he rebelled against Sulaiman's government.

Following Noor Effandi's sacking, Rafiq moved out of his incumbent seat of Paya Rumput to contest in Telok Mas.

Paya Rumput has a 62 percent Malay population while Telok Mas has a 74 percent Malay population.

Noor Effandi, at the press conference today, endorsed Pakatan Harapan's candidate for Telok Mas, Ashraf Minghat, who is from Amanah.

He accused Rafiq of "running away" knowing that he won't be able to get non-Malay support.

"He (Rafiq) won the last election in Paya Rumput with the support of the non-Malay community there, which makes up about 40 percent of the population.

"I don't think I have to spell this out, but I want to ask him why he now runs to Telok Mas? We don't need to be highly educated to see why.

"It's because the Bersatu vice-president is scared to remain in Paya Rumput because he knew he would lose there," Noor Effandi said.

Rafiq previously told reporters his decision to contest Telok Mas was because it is his hometown, and denied that he was running away from Paya Rumput.

He also denied that Telok Mas would be a safer seat for him, saying that Bersatu had won the seat in 2018 with a much smaller margin compared to his majority in Paya Rumput when it was part of the Harapan coalition in 2018.

Bersatu is now part of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition together with PAS and Gerakan.

'Non-Malays should abandon Harapan'

Last week, Mohd Rafiq, who is Bersatu vice-president and Malacca PN chief, said the party could only win two out of six seats it contested in the 2018 general election because it was friends with DAP.

Malacca Bersatu chief Mohd Rafiq Naizamohideen

The Telok Mas candidate said it was hard for Bersatu to get solid support from the Malays in Malacca when it was in Harapan, as the community was said to be reluctant to vote for parties linked to DAP.

The politician later told Malaysiakini in an interview that the non-Malays should abandon Harapan. He said it would be a loss for them to continue supporting the coalition which he claimed has no hope to form the state government.

Noor Effandi last month, together with three other rebel assemblypersons, withdrew his support for Sulaiman's government.

The other three were Umno's Idris Haron and Noor Azman Hassan as well as independent assemblyperson Norhizam Hassan Baktee who was formerly from DAP.

They tried to form a new government with Harapan but were thwarted after Sulaiman sought a dissolution of the state assembly, paving the way for fresh polls.

Sulaiman's government fell the same way it was installed - through defections. His government replaced the Harapan government which collapsed in 2020.

PKR has fielded Idris in Asahan while Amanah fielded Noor Azman in Pantai Kundor as Harapan candidates after they were sacked from Umno.

Noorhizam is contesting as an independent in Pengkalan Batu while Noor Effandi is sitting out of the election. - Mkini