Zaid Ibrahim: I’m not as lucky as Wan Saiful and Maria

(The Star) – Datuk Zaid Ibrahim says it is uncertain if he will contest in the 14th general election (GE14), adding that he has not yet been offered a seat.

“Yesterday I was in Kampong Dato Sulaiman Mentri. I was asked where I’d contest. I said there hasn’t been an offer; I am not as lucky as Wan Saiful or Maria Chin,” the DAP man said in a tweet on Saturday.

Zaid was referring to Wan Saiful Wan Jan, the founding CEO of think-tank Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas), and former Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah who both left their respective organisations to contest in GE14.

Wan Saiful has joined Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia and is expected to contest a seat while Maria Chin has spoken of her intention to contest as an independent Pakatan Harapan candidate.  

There have been no announcements to date on where Wan Saiful and Maria will stand, although Maria has said that she will only contest if handed a parliamentary seat by Pakatan.

Appointed as a minister in March 2008, Zaid resigned from the cabinet six months later following his criticism of the then Internal Security Act being used against DAP’s Seputeh MP Teresa Kok, journalist Tan Hoon Chen, and blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin.

He was suspended by Umno later that year and joined PKR in June 2009.

However, Zaid had a fall-out with the PKR leadership and formed Parti Kesejahteraan Insan Tanah Air in December 2010, where he eventually resigned as president due to internal squabbling.

He joined DAP in February last year.