‘Silent’ end for Sivarasa

PETALING JAYA: Sivarasa Rasiah (pic) says he was dropped at the eleventh hour as the Pakatan Harapan candidate for Sungai Buloh in the 15th General Election (GE15) because of health reasons.

The PKR legal bureau head said he had been experiencing problems with his vocal cords for more than three months and was now using a speech amplifier to assist with speaking and preserving his voice.

The incumbent Sungai Buloh MP said party president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had raised concerns about his ability to manage his campaign.

“I had a different view and explained how I would manage the campaign, taking into account the state of my voice,” Sivarasa said in a statement yesterday.

He added that he was Pakatan’s candidate for Sungai Buloh until the morning of Oct 28.

He said he received a text message from Anwar at 5pm that day telling him that, after further discussions, Anwar decided that Sivarasa would not contest the seat.

“I fully accepted the decision by Datuk Seri Anwar as head of the party. He has the right to make the final decision, taking into account his perceived view of my health and any other factors he considers relevant,” he said.

He urged the public to stop discussing his non-participation in GE15 after it was announced that the seat would be given to PKR deputy information chief Datuk R. Ramanan.Sivarasa is a three-term PKR MP. He won the Subang parliamentary seat in GE12 and GE13 before the constituency was re-delineated as Sungai Buloh in 2018.

He won Sungai Buloh with a majority of 26,634 votes in GE14 in a four-cornered fight with PAS, Barisan Nasional and PSM candidates.