Umno set to wrest four seats in KL

Rumblings in Bandar Tun Razak Umno division are lending credence to speculation that a candidate with 'powerful' influence may be fielded there.

KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Rakyat could lose up to four parliamentary seats in Wilayah Persekutuan in the 13th general election.

In the 2008 election, the coalition made a historic sweep of 11 seats. Barisan Nasional only retained Labuan and Putrajaya federal territories.

Political observers here have identified the seats as Lembah Pantai, Titiwangsa, Wangsa Maju and Bandar Tun Razak.

Lembah Pantai is currently held by Nurul Izzah Anwar, who, it is said, has felt the impact of her ground officer M Parthiban’s exit. Partiban had been with her since 2008.

Disgruntled voters complain that Nurul Izzah is spending more time with ceramahs nationwide. Her onground officers, they claim, are ineffective.

Looking good is Umno’s Raja Nong Chik Zainal Abidin who is also Federal Territories and Urban Well-being minister.

He is poised to wrest the seat from her or anyone else the opposition decides to field in the coming polls. Umno sources foresee him winning with at least a 3,000 majority.

In Titiwangsa, PAS has not recovered from the passing of the late Dr Lo’lo Ghazali.

Lo’lo beat Umno candidate Aziz Jamaluddin Mohd Tahir by a 1,972 majority in the last election.

A much loved personality, Lo’lo’s service centre’s inefficiency has been to the advantage of Umno Titiwangsa.

Najib’s man in Wangsa Maju
Titiwangsa Umno has returned with vengence and has been actively engaging local voters.

Tipped to contest here is its acting divsion chief Johari Abd Ghani, a corporate figure.

Ever since it became known that Lo’Lo was sick, Johari and his team stepped in and made themselves available to the constituents.

He has managed to winover factions within Titiwangsa Umno and is now solidly being backed as a ‘winnable’ candidate by former MPs and division chiefs Drs Suleiman Mohamad and Astaman Abdul Aziz.

Having said this, local observers are however conservative in their assessment of his winnability.

Said one observer: ‘He’s doing a good job and people like him but Johari has big shoes to fill. Lo’Lo was a big figure here.”

At best, the observer said, Johari will narrow the majority and if he does win, it will be with a 1,000 or less majority.

Moving on to Wangsa Maju, now independent Wee Choo Keong is likely to be replaced by Umno’s Shafei Abdullah in the next general election.

Shafie comes with heavy artillery. He is the finance minister’s political secretary.

In 2008, Wee won the seat on a PKR ticket beating MCA candidate Yew Teong Look by a slim 150 vote margin.

Najib’s brother as a candidate

In 2010 he quit PKR saying he was disappointed with the party and the Pakatan Rakyat-run Selangor government.

Umno is now hellbent on taking back the seat. The seat was traditionally MCA’s but Umno has staked its claim and is poised to field local warlord Shafie.

Shafie is using his position with the finance minister, who is also the prime minister, and is leaving no stones unturned here.

Using his clout and close proximity to the PM, he is aggressively promoting welfare and social development programmes in the constitiuency.

Although rumours are that Wee will defend his seat, Shafie is confident of wresting it even if he is faced with a three-cornered fight in the next general election.

Pakatan’s final loss is poised to be in Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary constituency currently held by Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim.

Talk is that PKR will not field Khalid in Bandar Tun Razak. PKR is of the opinion that Bandar Tun Razak is still a safe seat because of the strive within the Umno division here and MCA’s lack of interest.

But Umno headquarters is undaunted. Insiders claim Najib will be fielding one of his brothers in this seat.

Insiders, while declining to mention names, said it would the ‘brother with least controversy’ attached to his name.

Najib has four brothers. The less visible ones are Johari Razak and Nizam Razak. The others are CIMB head honcho Nazir and Nasim who was linked to the Altantuya case.