Umno today dropped Astaman Abdul Aziz from contesting at the Titiwangsa parliamentary constituency in Kuala Lumpur, replacing him with rookie Aziz Jamaluddin Mohd Tahir.

Aziz is a local-boy, representing the Titiwangsa Umno division. This ‘local-born’ factor had weighed heavily against Astaman’s chances of being selected again to defend his seat as he is seen in the constituency as a parachute candidate brought in from neighbouring Wangsa Maju.

His three-year suspension from the party for money politics has also not helped him in his aim to re-contest at Titiwangsa .

Aziz’s choice is a surprise as it was earlier speculated that former Titiwangsa MP and the popular Titiwangsa division head Dr Suleiman Mohamed was making a come back to the constituency.

Another name that was hotly tipped to contest for this seat was the Wilayah Persekutuan Youth chief Norza Zakaria.

Astaman was not the only Umno candidate who was dropped from contesting in the party-held seats in the Federal Territories.

In Labuan, controversial Suhaili Abdul Rahman was replaced by Yusof Mahal.

Tengku Adnan retained

The other three Umno-held seats would be contested by the incumbents - Zulhasnan Rafique at Setiawangsa, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil at Lembah Pantai and Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor at Putrajaya.

lembah pantai parliamentary seat election results 110208 In Lembah Pantai , Shahrizat will be facing PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim’s daughter Nurul Izzah.

Tengku Adnan was also expected to be dropped following his involvement in the controversial Lingam tape but he managed to make the cut.

Federal Territory Umno and Barisan Nasional chairman Zulhasnan Rafique, who announced the candidates for the federal territory in the March 8 general election today, said that Tengku Adnan’s candidacy was approved by the party’s top leadership.

Federal Territory PAS commissioner Mohamad Noor Mohamad, 50, who stood in Titiwangsa in 2004 and 1999 is expected to face Tengku Adnan.

In all, Umno will be contesting in five of the 13 FT parliamentary seats. The party won all the five seats in 2004.

Tough fight expected in Batu

On the other hand, Gerakan has decided to change its entire line up for the three seats it will be contesting in Kuala Lumpur. In the process the party dropped an incumbent and moved another candidate from his previously contested seat to a neighbouring seat and allocated a seat for its former president’s son.

Lim Si Pin, son of Lim Keng Yeik, will be placed in Batu, traditionally a safe seat for Gerakan. He will replace Ng Lip Yong. This time however Si Pin is expected to face a fierce fight against PKR’s Tian Chua.

In Kepong , held by DAP’s Dr Tan Seng Giaw since 1982, Gerakan will once again try to win the seat, this time by placing its faith on Low Hoi Keong, a party youth leader from the area.

Over at the neighbouring constituency, Gerakan has replaced Dr Tan Kee Kwong with Mah Woei Chyi in an attempt to retain Segambut . Mah contested against Seng Giaw in Kepong in 2004 and lost narrowly.

However Segambut party workers are said to be unhappy with the introduction of an outside candidate to contest in their area. DAP’s Lim Lip Eng is expected to contest in Segambut.

MCA, being the second biggest coalition partner in BN, will be contesting in five seats in Kuala Lumpur.

The party will be trying to retain Bandar Tun Razak and Wangsa Maju through the incumbents Tan Chai Ho and Yew Teong Look respectively. PKR’s secretary general Khalid Ibrahim is expected to contest in Bandar Tun Razak.

The Bukit Bintang battle

MCA is also re-introducing Dr Lee Chong Meng to regain the Bukit Bintang seat from DAP’s Fong Kui Lun.

bukit bintang parliamentary seat election results 180108 Lee, a senator and the Bukit Bintang MCA division chief, controversially won the seat in 1995 when DAP candidate Wee Choo Keong was disqualified on technical grounds.

He however lost the seat to Fong in the 1999 general election by 1,134 votes. In 2004, Fong retained the seat by defeating MCA newcomer Tan Chew Mooi with a smaller margin 304 votes. Fong is once again expected to contest there.

In Seputeh, MCA would be banking on new face Chew Chee Lin to wrestle the seat away from DAP’s popular incumbent Teresa Kok.

And the party is also expected to face a tough time to win the Cheras seat through another rookie Jeffrey Goh Sim Ik. DAP’s Tan Kok Wai is expected to contest again here.

Speaking at the press conference, Zulhasnan said BN was confident of retaining the nine seats it won in 2004 and wresting the Kepong, Cheras, Seputeh and Bukit Bintang seats held by DAP.

"We field candidates who we feel can win. The incumbents will help out and the federal territory election machinery will also help all the candidates,” he said.

The Federal Territory has a total of 669,446 voters, comprising 35.1 per cent Malays, Chinese 54.9 per cent, Indians 9.1 per cent and others 0.9 per cent.

PKR will only be officially announcing its list of candidates tonight while DAP is expected to do so by tomorrow.

Below is the full BN list

KEPONG

Low Hoi Keong (new face)

(won by DAP in 2004)

BATU

Lim Si Pin (new face)

(replacing incumbent Ng Lip Yong who is dropped)

WANGSA MAJU

Yew Teong Look (BN incumbent)

SEGAMBUT

Mah Woei Chyi

(replacing incumbent Dr Tan Kee Kwong who is dropped)

SETIAWANGSA

Zulhasnan Rafique (BN incumbent)

TITIWANGSA

Aziz Jamaluddin Mohd. Tahir (new face)

(replacing incumbent Astaman Abdul Aziz who is dropped)

BUKIT BINTANG

Dr Lee Chong Meng (new face)

(won by DAP in 2004)

LEMBAH PANTAI

Shahrizat Abdul Jalil (BN incumbent)

SEPUTEH

Chew Chee Lin (new face)

(won by DAP in 2004)

CHERAS

Jeffrey Goh Sim Ik (new face)

(won by DAP in 2004)

BANDAR TUN RAZAK

Tan Chai Ho (BN incumbent)

PUTRAJAYA

Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor (BN incumbent)

LABUAN

Yusof Mahal (new face)

(replacing Suhaili Abdul Rahman who is dropped)

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