Perak’s ‘defected 4′ keen on contesting

The four Pakatan reps who contributed to BN's political coup in the state are hoping for another shot in the coming national polls.

TAIPING: The four former Pakatan Rakyat state assemblypersons who contributed to the fall of the Pakatan state government in Perak in 2009 are now planning for a new lease of political life in the coming general election.

The four BN-friendly independents are Hee Yit Foong (Jelapang), Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu (Changkat Jering), Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi (Behrang) and Keshvinder Singh (Malim Nawar).

The first three played a vital role in destabilising the elected Pakatan state government into falling into the hands of BN while Keshvinder left after the fall due to political differences.

While there was much speculation that the four had jumped ship due to monetary gains, they however denied this.

The four claimed they shifted alliance to BN because they were unhappy with their respective parties’ administration.

FMT spoke to them recently about their intention to remain active in politics.

“Yes! I shall definitely stand again in Jelapang for the third time on a BN ticket,” exclaimed an excited Hee, who is also the state assembly deputy speaker.

Hee had contested and won the Jelapang seat twice under the DAP banner in three-cornered fights in 2004 and 2008.

When told that Jelapang was a MCA area which may not be given to her and the alternative may be for her to stand as an independent candidate, she said: “Our BN leadership wants a performing, likeable and winnable candidate which qualifies me for the seat.”

“Anyway a four-cornered or five-cornered fight (in Jelapang) does not scare me as I have already faced two three-cornered fights before,” she added.

Asked about the alleged monetary gains for jumping ship, Hee retorted: “You think I am money gila [crazy] like them?”

“I left because I was unhappy with the party leadership of the two cousin brothers (DAP state chief Ngeh Koo Ham and secretary Nga Kor Ming),” she added.

She also said that her relationship with the Jelapang voters remained good despite DAP’s political propaganda to tarnish her name after her defection.

“You must remember that the two PKR assemblymen (Osman and Jamaluddin) had left earlier and BN had the majority in the state assembly before I resigned from DAP.

“My relationship with the Jelapang voters is good as I am constantly attending to their problems and needs,” she explained.

‘Voters want me’

Keshvinder, meanwhile, said his voters had urged him to stand in the Malim Nawar state seat again.

“They (voters) are happy with my good service and want me to contest again. The problem is that Malim Nawar used to be a MCA seat and they might not give me the seat again,” he added.

On whether he might stand as an independent if not given the BN seat, he said: “The possibility is there but we will wait and see.”

On the other hand, Osman was more bold and stressed that he would stand as an independent candidate in Changat Jering if BN failed to choose a winnable Umno candidate for the state seat.

Jamaluddin, however, just laughed and said his constituency belonged to MIC and he did not know whether he would be given this seat.

He stressed that it was still early and he had not made up his mind yet whether to contest as an independent if denied the BN seat.

According to BN sources, the proposed allocation of state and parliament seats for Perak had been sent to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak for his approval.