Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz has to work harder on earning grassroots support if he wants to be considered as a general election candidate for Umno, said party secretary-general Ahmad Maslan.
Ahmad told Utusan Malaysia that Zafrul has to win over the party grassroots in his chosen constituency and needs to possess three key values - winnability, acceptability and likeability.
“(Zafrul) has to work hard. I received reports that he is eyeing Kuala Selangor. Do the people of Kuala Selangor or the (Umno division leadership) accept him?
“If he wants to be (our candidate) he has to work hard and a final decision will be made by the (party) leadership,” he said.
Zafrul was out of the political limelight until he was made finance minister during the Muhyiddin Yassin administration.
His party affiliation was kept tightly under wraps until Ahmad confirmed it in May.
This came amid widespread speculation that Zafrul was eyeing the Kuala Selangor parliamentary constituency, currently held by Amanah’s Dzulkefly Ahmad.
So far, only Sungai Besar Umno division chief Jamal Md Yunos had voiced support for Zafrul, publicly urging the party leadership to consider the latter as BN’s “poster boy” for their Selangor campaign.
Commenting on this, Ahmad said there was nothing wrong with Jamal’s suggestion but candidate selection in Umno will have to go through the division, state, and national leadership.
In another development, Ahmad said Umno’s recent constitutional amendments have yet to receive the green light from the Registrar of Societies.
These amendments were designed to allow the party’s supreme council to postpone an internal leadership election until after a general election.
The term of the current leadership was supposed to have expired in June last year. However, the party leadership invoked a rule that allowed it to extend its term and delay polls for 18 months.
Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz has to work harder on earning grassroots support if he wants to be considered as a general election candidate for Umno, said party secretary-general Ahmad Maslan.
Ahmad told Utusan Malaysia that Zafrul has to win over the party grassroots in his chosen constituency and needs to possess three key values - winnability, acceptability and likeability.
“(Zafrul) has to work hard. I received reports that he is eyeing Kuala Selangor. Do the people of Kuala Selangor or the (Umno division leadership) accept him?
“If he wants to be (our candidate) he has to work hard and a final decision will be made by the (party) leadership,” he said.
Zafrul was out of the political limelight until he was made finance minister during the Muhyiddin Yassin administration.
His party affiliation was kept tightly under wraps until Ahmad confirmed it in May.
This came amid widespread speculation that Zafrul was eyeing the Kuala Selangor parliamentary constituency, currently held by Amanah’s Dzulkefly Ahmad.
So far, only Sungai Besar Umno division chief Jamal Md Yunos had voiced support for Zafrul, publicly urging the party leadership to consider the latter as BN’s “poster boy” for their Selangor campaign.
Commenting on this, Ahmad said there was nothing wrong with Jamal’s suggestion but candidate selection in Umno will have to go through the division, state, and national leadership.
In another development, Ahmad said Umno’s recent constitutional amendments have yet to receive the green light from the Registrar of Societies.
These amendments were designed to allow the party’s supreme council to postpone an internal leadership election until after a general election.
The term of the current leadership was supposed to have expired in June last year. However, the party leadership invoked a rule that allowed it to extend its term and delay polls for 18 months. - Mkini
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