GE15 | Caretaker health minister Khairy Jamaluddin said he will be facing the toughest fight in his political career in a seven-cornered contest for the Sungai Buloh parliamentary seat.

However, the three-term Rembau MP is not taking it as a disadvantage, but as a challenge to bring BN’s fight to the urban area.

“I won three elections in a row in Rembau (Negeri Sembilan). Now I have come to a constituency we lost in three elections in a row. But I am up for the challenge and hope the Sungai Buloh people will give me a chance.

“I hope to serve the people of Sungai Buloh and that they will enable me to serve the country,” he said.

He was speaking to reporters after filing his nomination papers at the Petaling District and Land Office in Sungai Buloh, Selangor, today.

Asked about speculation that it could be the end of his political career if he loses, Khairy, who is popularly known as KJ, said: “I am not ready to go yet.”

Meanwhile, he also responded to a comment by three-term Sungai Buloh incumbent MP R Sivarasa who said a vote for Khairy means “a vote for Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.”

“One vote to KJ in Sungai Buloh is a vote to KJ,” Khairy said.

“This narrative must be explained right now that the candidate for the post of prime minister is Ismail Sabri Yaakob. I will support him as the candidate for the post as announced by Zahid himself. No confusion there,” he said.

Khairy, a former Umno Youth chief, is being challenged by Pakatan Harapan’s R Ramanan in PKR’s effort to retain the seat for four consecutive times, and Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) Mohd Ghazali Md Hamin from PAS.

The other contenders are Mohd Akmal Mohd Yusoff of Pejuang, Parti Rakyat Malaysia’s (PRM) Ahmad Jufliz Faiza, and two independent candidates, Nurhaslinda Basri and Syed Abdul Razak Syed Long Alsagoff.

Syed Abdul Razak caught some attention as he wore boots reminiscent of those worn by popular TV character Phua Chu Kang.

In 2018, Sivarasa of PKR won the seat with a majority of 26,634 votes. He is not defending the seat for health reasons.

According to returning officer, Mohd Jusni Hashim, there are 158,090 voters in the constituency.

- Bernama

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