SUNGAI BULOH: Khairy Jamaluddin has made it clear that Barisan Nasional's candidate for the prime minister post is Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
The Barisan candidate for Sungai Buloh said this when countering three-term former Sungai Buloh MP R. Sivarasa's comment that "a vote for Khairy means a vote for Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi".
"This narrative must be explained now that the candidate for the prime minister post is Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob. I will support him as the candidate for the post as announced by Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid himself, no confusion there.
He further stressed that "one vote to KJ in Sungai Buloh is a vote to KJ."
Khairy, who is also Health Minister, will go up against Pakatan Harapan's Datuk R. Ramanan and Perikatan Nasional's Mohd Ghazali Md Hamin from PAS.
The other contenders are Mohd Akmal Mohd Yusoff (Pejuang), Ahmad Jufliz Faiza (Parti Rakyat Malaysia) and independent candidates Nurhaslinda Basri and Syed Abdul Razak Syed Long Alsagoff, who caught some attention with his yellow "Phua Chu Kang" wellington boots from the popular TV series.
Khairy added he would be facing the toughest fight in his political career in a seven-cornered contest for the Sungai Buloh parliamentary seat.
However, he said it was not a disadvantage but a challenge to bring Barisan's fight to the urban constituency.
"I won three elections in a row in Rembau. Now I have come to a constituency which we lost three elections in a row. But I am up for the challenge and hope that 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 told reporters after filing his nomination papers at Dewan Kenanga, Petaling District and Land Office, here on Saturday (Nov 5).
Asked about speculation that this could be the end of his political career if he loses, Khairy, who is popularly known as KJ, merely said: "I am not ready to go yet."
In 2018, Sivarasa of PKR won the seat with a majority of 26,634 votes. He is not defending the seat due to health reasons.
According to returning officer Mohd Jusni Hashim, there are 158,090 voters in the constituency. – Bernama
