PD POLLS | Several young Umno leaders had pushed for the party to contest in next month's Port Dickson by-election, but the bid ultimately faltered when they came up against party veterans.

Chief among those who had opposed participating in the polls was Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan, whose base is in Negeri Sembilan, where the by-election is taking place.

Sources told Malaysiakini that the Umno leadership had engaged in a heated discussion yesterday afternoon.

According to one source, leading the camp favouring entry into the polls was Umno Youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki, who tried to convince the Umno political bureau to field a candidate.

Heading the opposing camp was Mohamad, the former Negeri Sembilan menteri besar, who ultimately came out on top. 

'I will abide'

When contacted, Asyraf declined to go into detail of what transpired at the meeting, but stressed that he will abide by the party's decision.

"My position on the by-election is clear; in the end, the leadership made a decision through consensus," he said.

Earlier, Asyraf had also taken to Facebook to tell his followers that he had tried to push for BN to contest, which he said was the position of the youths in the party.

Lobbying was ongoing even before the heated Umno political bureau meeting took place yesterday.

Since the by-election was announced, former Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin had taken to social media to push for the party to contest the by-election, proposing a local candidate.

Khairy is the Rembau MP, the federal constituency that neighbours Port Dickson.

On the opposing side, Mohamad had issued a statement less than an hour before the political bureau arrived at a decision, making his case against Umno participating in the by-election.

"Umno must be stern and resolute in its principle against the act of purposely vacating one's parliamentary seat solely for another's political ambition," his statement read.

In the end, the Umno political bureau agreed with the deputy president, and a boycott was announced.

'No pressure'

When contacted, Umno supreme council member Lokman Noor Adam downplayed claims that Mohamad issued his statement to put pressure on the political bureau.

"That's his opinion. Two weeks prior, (Padang Rengas MP) Nazri Abdul Aziz commented as well. This is not about pressuring others. Everyone can air their views before the political bureau meeting.

"When BN's leadership makes a decision, we must abide by it," he said.

The incumbent Port Dickson MP Danyal Balagopal Abdullah had resigned earlier this month for the sole purpose of triggering the by-election, paving way for PKR president-elect Anwar Ibrahim's bid to return to Parliament.

Proponents of this move have argued that the by-election is necessary because Anwar is Pakatan Harapan's designated successor to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. 

With Umno and BN out of the picture, the only ones to have pledged to challenge Anwar in Port Dickson are Parti Rakyat Malaysia and two independents.

PAS has yet to confirm if they will participate in the election, nor if their leaders will even meet ahead of the nomination this Saturday.