SEREMBAN: The Sungai Buloh parliamentary seat is a "very safe" one for Khairy Jamaluddin, says Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.
The Barisan deputy chairman said the seat was considered “very safe” as Malays made up more than 70% of the voters.
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"Contrary to what is being said by some people, Sungai Buloh is a very safe seat for Barisan.
"I am sure that KJ will win there," he told reporters when met after handing out letters of authorisation to Barisan candidates contesting parliamentary seats in Negri Sembilan at Wisma Umno.
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Mohamad said the reason why Khairy was being fielded there was also because the Sungai Buloh Umno division was more than happy to have him contest the seat.
Division chief Datuk Megat Firdouz Megat Junid is also Khairy's political secretary.
"It is always better to contest in a constituency where the election machinery welcomes you with open arms.
"There is no point in contesting a seat where you are not going to get the support of the party workers," he said.
PKR's R. Sivarasa won the Sungai Buloh seat with a 26,634 majority in GE14. He served as MP for three terms under the Pakatan Harapan ticket.
Mohamad said Barisan did not do well in Sungai Buloh in the past election as many voters wanted a candidate from Umno.
He also rubbished talk that the move to field Khairy in Sungai Buloh was to kill off his political career.
"Sungai Buloh will be good for KJ, who has a long and bright future in Umno," he said.
Mohamad, who will be contesting in Rembau this time around, said the party would have to continue to work harder to win more seats this time around.
Citing an example, he said the number of voters in Rembau have increased from some 97,000 to 135,000 following the automatic voter registration exercise and allowing those above 18 to vote.
"It is very important that our election machinery gets to the ground and convince voters that Barisan, which has an excellent track record managing this country, is the best choice.
"They should be told of the damage that the Pakatan government did to this country over 22 months after they won in GE14," he said.
Mohamad said there may be some shortcomings in Barisan and Umno but the leadership was always looking at ways to improvise.
Earlier, Mohamad handed over letters of authorisation to seven Barisan candidates who will be contesting in the Nov 19 polls in the state.
Apart from him, the others are Datuk Adnan Abu Hassan (Kuala Pilah), Datuk Shamshulkahar Mohd Deli (Jempol), Ng Kian Nam (Rasah), Datuk Seri Jalaluddin Alias (Jelebu), Datuk Mohd Isam Mohd Isa (Tampin), Wong Yin Ting (Seremban) and Datuk P. Kamalanathan (Port Dickson).
In GE14, Barisan won in Jempol, Jelebu and Rembau. The other seats went to Pakatan.
