CALONKINI | Bersatu's Shukur Mohamad, like many in the splinter party, comes from a family with a long history in Umno.

But Shukur's isn't just another Umno family.

Shukur's father, Mohamad Aziz, is the current Umno deputy permanent chairperson and Johor speaker.

For 14 years until 2013, Mohamad was known as the firebrand Sri Gading MP who would relentlessly unleash on the opposition.

Prior to that, he was the three-term Parit Yaani assemblyperson and also a Johor executive councillor.

Shukur's stepmother is the current Parit Raja assemblyperson Azizah Zakaria, who he will potentially challenge in the 14th general election.

Azizah has not taken kindly to Shukur joining the rebellion led by Bersatu chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was prime minister and Umno president for 22 years until 2003.

"She has not talked to me since the day I joined Bersatu," he said, complaining that his stepmother Azizah (photo) cannot separate family life from politics.

Shukur said he maintains a cordial relationship with many of his former Umno comrades who do not treat him with hostility, including caretaker Johor Menteri Besar Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

“Even though I am not in Umno, my relationship with the menteri besar is still good. But we don't talk politics when we meet," he said.

Malaysiakini understands that Shukur is tipped to either contest in his stepmother's state seat of Parit Raja or his father's former parliamentary seat of Sri Gading, whose current incumbent is Aziz Kaprawi, a caretaker deputy minister.

In the 13th general election, Azizah won the Parit Raja seat with a 3,956-vote majority, having garnered 10,839 votes.

Aziz Kaprawi garnered 22,453 votes in Sri Gading, winning by a 5,761-vote majority.

The state seats of Parit Raja and Parit Yaani make up the parliamentary seat of Sri Gading, which is an inland constituency in central Johor.

‘Papa said good luck’

Despite Shukur's dabbling in Bersatu, his relationship with his father has been nothing like that with his stepmother. His mother passed away in 2012.

"I remembered the day I joined Bersatu, which was Sept 26, 2016, just two weeks after the party was registered. On that day, papa was in Korea with the Johor menteri besar.

"Two hours after I joined Bersatu, I called papa and told him I had joined Bersatu. All he said was congratulations and good luck with your new ideology," Shukur said.

Prior to that, Shukur (photo) had been a card-carrying Umno member for 26 years.

Shukur said his father had never questioned why he joined Bersatu, despite still being a staunch Umno man.

"He never scolded me. Not even a word of asking why I joined Bersatu. He knew where I was leaning two or three months before I joined Bersatu," he said.

Instead, Shukur said it was he who always cheekily tried to persuade his father to abandon Umno and join Bersatu.

"I am very close to my father. Sometimes when we are having breakfast, I will joke with him and say 'Pa, leave Umno lah. Come join me, join Tun (Mahathir)' or sometimes when we go for high tea, I will tell him 'I have a Bersatu membership form in the car, do you want to fill it up?'

"Father will just laugh and jokingly tell me to go to hell with my party... or he will laugh and say 'Never mind, I'm already old'. There are always lots of excuses," he said.

Shukur noted that his 78-year-old father insists that he will always remain in Umno.

But Mohamad's lack of objection towards his son's rebellion may perhaps be that he sees a little of his own father in Shukur.

Like grandfather, like grandson

Mohamad's father and Shukur's grandfather, Abdul Aziz Tengku Karim, was a close friend of Umno founder Onn Jaafar and had helped draft the Umno constitution.

When Onn failed to convince Umno to become a multiracial party and quit to form the Independence of Malaya Party in 1951, and subsequently Parti Negara in 1954, Abdul Aziz (photo) followed him.

In 1972, Mohamad, then 32, took a different path from his father, choosing to join Umno.

Abdul Aziz did not stop his son nor say a word about it. He never returned to Umno even after Onn passed away in 1962.

Shukur, who confessed that he was considered to be his grandfather's favourite, joked about repeating history.

“Some of my family said I am 'anak atuk' (favourite grandson). My uncle even called me ‘raja rumah’ (king of the house), meaning to say you can't touch me when my grandpa is there.

“I am following in my grandpa's footsteps. I am the only grandson who is following his footsteps," he said.

But his grandfather's political foray as an Umno rebel did not end well, and Shukur faces a similarly uphill task. Taking on his own stepmother will also be a potentially awkward situation.

However, there has been speculation that Sri Gading MP Aziz Kaprawi, a potential Johor menteri besar candidate, may move to Parit Raja, thus averting a possible stepson versus stepmom battle.

Uphill battle

Lokman Noor Adam, a former Umno Youth exco and loyalist to Umno president Najib Abdul Razak – who appointed Lokman as the Finance Ministry's strategic communications director – is speculated to take Aziz Kaprawi’s place in Sri Gading.

If local gossip is to be believed, Shukur would still be up against a potential menteri besar candidate or a Najib loyalist, both formidable foes.

Shukur was coy about whether he will stand in Sri Gading or Parit Raja.

"Whether I will contest or not, it is up to the party's central leadership to decide. I can also work from behind the scenes," he said.

Nevertheless, he is optimistic about Bersatu's chances in both seats, claiming that Umno's grip on the villages there has begun to wear off.

Even though the villagers were not flocking to join Bersatu, Shukur noted that they were curious about Bersatu, often asking about the party, which is something unusual for Umno strongholds in the past.

Sri Gading is a Malay-majority parliamentary seat, comprising 65 percent Malay, 33 percent Chinese and 1.47 percent Indian voters, while Parit Raja comprises 73 percent Malays, 22 percent Chinese and two percent Indian voters.

CALONKINI introduces new faces from all sides of the political divide who are potential candidates for the 14th general election.

These interviews are not an endorsement by Malaysiakini.

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