PETALING JAYA: Nazri Aziz, Umno’s maverick politician who has decided not to contest in the Nov 19 general election, will go back to his law practice and run a business now that he is no longer active in politics.
However, the six-term MP who has held several ministerial positions over the last 30 years, will continue to be a member of Umno. “This is in my blood,” he told FMT.
He said he would be practising law with some of his partners and also start a business. “Thirty years of public life is too long. It’s time to move on and give way for the younger generation to take over.”
As such, the 68-year-old former law minister said, he would hit the ground in the Padang Rengas constituency to help the Barisan Nasional parliamentary and two state candidates as he was the coalition chairman there.
“In the last election in 2018, BN did not win the seat absolutely as the votes that went to PAS and PH combined were higher than what we got,” he said. “Now that PAS and Bersatu are in a coalition, the PH votes will go to the PN candidate. So, I’ll do my best to make sure my old machinery will do all it can to stop this.”
In in the 2018 polls, Nazri obtained 10,491 votes while his closest rival Ejazi Yahaya (PKR) polled 7,943 votes. Mohd Azalan Mohd Radzi (PAS) obtained 6,847 votes and Ahmad Affandi Fairuz (Kita) 1,380 votes.
Last January, Nazri revealed he was offered the post of ambassador to Switzerland in 2019 but did not take it up as he would have needed to resign as MP, as per the requirement in Europe.
It was in August that he announced he was quitting active politics to make way for the younger generation of politicians.
Nazri has been an MP since 1995. Among the Cabinet posts he held were law, entrepreneur development and tourism and culture, as it was known then. He has also been deputy finance minister 1 and deputy minister in the prime minister’s department.
As a minister and backbencher, Nazri was known for his frank outbursts in and out of Parliament, sometimes touching on sensitive issues affecting all races.
He was also a vocal critic of Dr Mahathir Mohamad when the former prime minister was attacking the leadership of his successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
He was among the MPs who withdrew support for Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister last year, which led to the fall of the Perikatan Nasional administration, paving the way for Umno to lead the government. - FMT
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