After having just completed his three-year suspension from his Umno division post for money politics, Titiwangsa MP Astaman Abdul Aziz is back with a vengeance to prove his worth to the party and his constituents.

For long he has been saddled with the accusation of being an outsider who had ‘parachuted’ into the Titiwangsa constituency. Astaman is Wangsa Maju Umno division chief.

Although he continued to serve as an MP during his suspension from the party post, there are now talks in the ground in the constituency that a local should be chosen to represent them.

The antagonism against him goes back to the day he was surprisingly chosen to replace the incumbent and the widely popular Titiwangsa division head Dr Suleiman Mohamed to contest in the Malay-majority seat in the 2004 general election.

Since then various forces from the Titiwangsa constituency have been working hard to get him replaced. Their task was made easier when he was suspended for money politics.

And with the general election to be held imminently, these forces have again started their campaign to replace ‘outsider’ Astaman with a local candidate.

However Astaman is not willing to take this challenge lying down.

‘Look at Shahrizat’

In an interview with Malaysiakini early this week, the 54-year-old superbike enthusiast retorted: “Don’t forget I am not the only parachute (we’re talking about) here.”

“(MCA’s) Tan Chai Ho is from Kepong but contested in Bandar Tun Razak, (Umno’s) Shahrizat Abdul Jalil is from Kepong too but contested in Lembah Pantai, (MIC’s) S Samy Vellu from Gombak but contested in Sungai Siput

“Even PAS Youth chief (Salahuddin Ayub) who is from Tanjung Piai contested in Kubang Kerian,” he said.

He said that whether he should be retained or dropped as a candidate in the general election - widely tipped to be held in March - should be judged, simply, from his work and performance.

“Look at Shahrizat, was she judged from the fact that she was from Kepong? She did her job well,” Astaman said in reference to the Family, Women and Community Development Minister.

The Malay-majority Titiwangsa seat is a hot favourite among aspiring Umno leaders. It is also only one of four seat - out of a total of 11 - in the Federal Territories that are allocated to Umno. The others are Setiawangsa, Lembah Pantai and Putrajaya.

The local Titiwangsa forces have their hopes to replace Astaman with Suleiman. Similarly the party’s rising star, Wangsa Maju division Youth head Norza Zakaria is also said to be eyeing the seat. Both are allegedly not on good terms with Astaman.

Son to former Umno Wanita chief Aisah Ghani, Astaman - an engineer by training - said he is ready to defend the seat again, if given a chance by the BN leadership.

He also laughed off the criticisms levelled against him.

“I was born here in Kuala Lumpur Hospital and I stay in Kampung Baru. Nobody could get more local than me,” he said.

Overshadowed by others

The interview was conducted at his service centre located in the Malay heartland of Kampung Baru.

It was a rather plain office with the only sign of any extravaganza being Astaman’s BMW superbike, which he uses to attend meetings in his constituency, especially during peak traffic hours.

Astaman said that he was not concerned if his detractors used his suspension as a lobbying tool to oust him from standing as a candidate in Titiwangsa.

“So be it,” he responded briefly. He however appeared unpleased over the punishment that was slapped on him. He finished serving his suspension last October.

But he added: “They (detractors) have to lobby and convince the top leadership. Doing anything to me won’t help.”

However he admitted that moves against him on the ground as well as his suspension have made it difficult for him to move around to garner support.

To another question, he said that it was not wrong for Suleiman to openly ask for a candidate from the Titiwangsa division to be fielded in election since the latter is the division chief in that area.

Embrace the Internet

On a different note, Astaman urged party members to reinvent themselves and embrace new technology like the Internet and new media.

He argued that with the development of technology, it has become difficult to control the publication of any news.

“You must make that adaptation (to use Internet), otherwise you will be left behind. You have to move with the time.

“Of course there are other people who are not into it, but eventually everybody will move there and whoever don’t make use of it will be a loser, to put it simply,” he said."

Watch 9-min video of the Astaman interview