The enemy within and without

(The Star) – The 14th General Election is shaping up to be the hottest the country has seen with political dramas unfolding one after another, sending temperatures rising.

There will be multi-cornered fights, family members taking on each other from opposite sides of the political divide, several rematch of big names from the general election of 2013 – and fake news.

More importantly, there are also many enemies within. The dropped candidates can sabotage the chosen ones, and then there are those with their eyes on bigger prizes within their parties and have to use the elections to strengthen their hand.

Already, there has been talk of political infighting with tensions between PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and deputy Datuk Seri Azmin Ali following squabbles over the party’s candidate list.

The feud has been papered over for now but could flare up again as soon as the elections are over.

There is also talk that Batu Pahat Umno division chief Datuk Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi might contest as an independent candidate after his name was dropped from the Johor Barisan candidate list.

Asked about the matter, Barisan secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said: “If Puad decides to become an independent candidate, he will be automatically suspended from the party.”

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had said earlier that Dr Mohd Puad must accept the reality that the constituency was in a critical state with an erosion of support for Barisan.

Dr Mohd Puad, however, denied the assertions by Dr Ahmad Zahid that there were problems in the division. Instead, Dr Mohd Puad, who is also Special Affairs Department director-general, said the division managed to record the highest number of voters in Johor.

Tengku Adnan has cited Wangsa Maju and Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary seats as possible seats where Barisan members may try to sabotage the election after some of them were not selected as candidates.

The candidate for Wangsa Maju is MCA’s Datuk Seri Yeow Teong Look, while the candidate for Bandar Tun Razak is Umno’s Adnan Abu Seman.

Rematches of old fights around the country include the one in Bentong where MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai is expected to defend the seat from his 2013 nemesis – DAP’s Wong Tack.

Former deputy minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, who is now with PKR, will be going up against PAS information chief Nasrudin Hassan again in the general election.

Over in Penang, the Balik Pulau parliamentary seat will once again see a clash between Deputy Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya and PKR’s Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik, a Penang Island city councillor.

There are also candidates taking on double seats such as Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir contesting the Lumut parliamentary seat and the Pangkor state seat.

Another double seat contender is Johor Mentri Besar and state Barisan chief Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, who will be contesting the Pasir Gudang parliamentary and the Permas state seats.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng is also contesting both the Bagan parliamentary and the Air Putih state seats while Azmin will be defending Gombak and Bukit Antarabangsa.

In Negri Sembilan, all eight parliamentary seats will see at least three-cornered fights in the May 9 polls following PAS’ decision to contest in all constituencies with Seremban and Port Dickson set to see the stiffest competition.

In the 2013 polls, there were three-cornered fights in only two parliamentary constituencies; and straight fights between Barisan and the now dissolved Pakatan Rakyat candidates in five. Only Seremban saw a five-cornered fight.

MCA Youth chief and first-timer Datuk Chong Sin Woon is set to take on incumbent and state DAP chief Anthony Loke Siew Fook in Seremban while MIC Information chief Datuk V. Mogan is likely to face Pakatan Harapan’s Rosman Jonet in Port Dickson (previously Teluk Kemang).

Although PAS is not expected to win anything, it will be interesting to see how much influence it has among the voters there and if it is enough to tilt the result in favour of any of the candidates.

Tengku Adnan said there would be no change in the names of candidates once they are announced by Barisan.