Confirmed: BN picks ex-top cop for Cameron Highlands
CAMERON POLLS | BN has confirmed former top police officer Ramli Mohd Noor as its pick to contest the Jan 26 Cameron Highlands by-election.
Malaysiakini learnt from a source that this was decided at a meeting among the top BN leadership last night...
CAMERON POLLS | BN has confirmed former top police officer Ramli Mohd Nor as its pick to contest the Jan 26 Cameron Highlands by-election.
Malaysiakini learnt from a source that this was decided at a meeting among the top BN leadership last night.
Meanwhile, the source added that one of the reasons MIC was not contesting the seat was due to a lack of funds.
The Cameron Highlands parliamentary constituency comprises 22 percent Orang Asli voters and 34 percent Malays, Chinese 30 percent and Indians 15 percent.
Ramli belongs to the Semai tribe, which forms the bulk of the Orang Asli communities there. He is also the treasurer of the Peninsular Malaysia Orang Asli Association.
Speculation had been rife that BN would field Ramli (photo), who in 2015 became the highest ranking Orang Asli police officer in the nation’s history, as a means to woo the Orang Asli voting bloc.
"Ramli's selection was agreed to by all BN component parties. Even MIC agreed to field the former cop.
"He (Ramli), who is from the Orang Asli community and is a Muslim, is seen as an advantage in bringing in the Orang Asli and Malay votes.
"This is especially as the Orang Asli votes would be the decider," the source said today.
Breaking tradition
However, Ramli, the former Penang Commercial Crime Department chief, yesterday refused to comment on his probable candidacy, saying the decision to field him laid in the hands of acting Umno chief Mohamad Hasan.
Ramli is not a member of Umno or any other political party.
This marks a departure from convention as the constituency is MIC's traditional seat.
The seat was won in the 14th general election by the party's candidate C Sivarraajh, with a slim 597-vote majority.
However, the seat was declared vacant by the Election Court in November last year, after it was determined that corrupt practices led to the BN's win.
Although MIC did not appeal the Election Court's decision to vacate the seat, Sivarraajh is challenging the Election Commission's (EC) decision to disallow him from contesting there again.
Sivarrajh was also disallowed from voting in any election for the next five years.
He was on Monday granted leave by the High Court in Kuala Lumpur to challenge the EC decision. His case is to set to appear before the same court later today.
At a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today, Mohamad (photo), who is also BN deputy president, officially announced Ramli as the coalition’s candidate for Cameron Highlands.
“He is a candidate who I am confident can gain the trust of our voters there, from among the Orang Asli especially.
“We are doing like Sarawak, direct candidate and membership.
“In BN, there is a clause for BN direct membership or through any party. But to maintain goodwill among the parties, let him be a BN (direct) member,” Mohamad said at the press conference.
He said BN decided to go with the 60-year-old former top cop, who has a good track record in the civil service, because it wants to try a new strategy where it is the candidate who carries the party and not the other way around.
“Last time, our usual practice is that the party will carry the candidate. Last time, anyone under the BN coalition will win.
“But in the current political situation and amid all the accusations being thrown against BN, our approach now is that the candidate can carry the party and the candidate is actually the most important factor, not the party anymore,” he added.
Mohamad said not only is Ramli from Cameron Highlands, but that many of the tok batin of the Orang Asli tribes in the area are his “cousins”.
That is why, he said, BN is 85 percent confident that it can retain the seat.
He is confident that the 22 percent of Orang Asli population in the constituency would fully support Ramli.
“Our position in Jelai is okay. If we can get about 20 to 30 percent of the Indian votes and five to 10 percent Chinese votes, then we can certainly win,” he said.
Due to the remoteness of the Orang Asli settlements, Mohamad said the Election Commission (EC) should look into ways to get the Orang Asli to come out to vote, perhaps including them as early voters as well.
He also thanked MIC president SA Vigneswaran (photo, above) for allowing BN to “temporarily” borrow the Cameron Highlands seat, stressing that it was very important for the coalition to win this by-election after the failures in the past four by-elections.
“Our main goal in facing this by-election is to win, not just to defend our seat but to make it a starting point for the resurgence of BN after having faced the political tsunami of the 14th general election.
“That is imperative, that is how important this Cameron Highlands by-election is for us in BN,” Mohamad said.
Additional reporting by Geraldine Tong
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