PETALING JAYA: Two DAP political heavyweights have been identified to contest the Raub parliamentary seat, a party official said.
The present MP, Mohamad Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz, “is medically unwell”, the source said.
“Both contenders are well-known personalities. Either of them can retain the seat if nominated.”
The insider declined to give details of the possible candidates due to strategic reasons.
“We are confident of holding on to Raub with a comfortable majority due to the current political climate,” the source added.
Ariff could not be contacted for a response.
Ariff, who suffered a stroke in the middle of last year, had also obtained leave from attending the last Dewan Rakyat sitting.
Ariff, better known by his blogger name Sakmongkol AK47, won the seat for the first time for DAP with a 2,814-vote majority after beating Hoh Khai Mun of Barisan Nasional (BN).
He was the former Pahang assemblyman for Pulau Manis from 2004 to 2008, when he was in Umno.
He was an Umno member until 2012 before he joined DAP, citing Umno’s failure to check corruption and the increase in the cost of living of Malays in general.
Before DAP wrested the seat, Raub had been under the Alliance and BN since 1959.
Apart from Raub, DAP has been allocated the Bentong and Cameron Highlands parliamentary seats in Pahang to contest in the 14th general election, which must be held by August.
From 1959 to 1978, the Cameron Highlands seat was held by candidates from Umno. From 1978 to 2013, it was held by candidates from MCA.
Pakatan Harapan finalised its seat negotiations for 165 federal seats in the peninsula last week.
In an announcement on Sunday, PH said the opposition pact had decided to let DAP run for election in 35 parliamentary constituencies, PPBM in 52, PKR in 51 and Amanah in 27. -FMT
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