Kelantan Umno stalwart Md Alwi hangs up his boots

Kelantan Umno stalwart Md Alwi Che Ahmad will not be defending the Kok Lanas seat in the upcoming legislative assembly election.

Alwi, 66, who has been the Kok Lanas lawmaker since 2008, said he wants to make way for new blood.

"I've been in politics for too long. I was active since 1986. Since 1990, I have held various positions such as political secretary to cabinet ministers, MP, state assemblyperson, and heads of several GLCs.

"We need to share our experience with new blood and train the new generation. That is my wish.

"We should retire when we have a good record. Don't wait until we lose (during an election). By then, people would have hated us and removed us," he said at his Aidilfitri open house event in Kampung Upeh, Ketereh last night.

Alwi (above) was elected as the Ketereh MP in 2004 and won the Kok Lanas state assembly seat three times in a row. Between 2018 and 2019, he was the Kelantan opposition leader.

During his previous outing in 2018, Alwi retained the Kok Lanas seat by winning 48.54 percent of the votes cast.

Checks by Malaysiakini revealed that during the parliamentary elections last year, 63.36 percent of votes in the Kok Lanas constituency went to Perikatan Nasional.

Alwi, who was elected as the Ketereh Umno division chief last December, said political leaders above the age of 65 should be training new leaders.

"I'm training new people in my division, just as how I used to be trained by Musa Hitam, Dr Mahathir Mohamad and others when I was in university," he said. - Mkini