BN underdog in Nenggiri by-election, says Ku Li

(TMI) – BARISAN Nasional (BN) candidate Mohd Azmawi Fikri Abdul Ghani is the underdog in the Nenggiri state by-election, Umno stalwart Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah said, 48 hours before voting day.

Tengku Razaleigh, otherwise known as Ku Li, said that although the by-election is on his home turf, where he has dominated for the past 50 years, the constituents tend to favour the incumbent Perikatan Nasional (PN).

Ku Li served as the Gua Musang MP from 1974 to 2022. During this time, he was seen as prime ministerial material.

PN is fielding former PAS Gua Musang Youth head Rizwadi Ismail, who is running on a Bersatu ticket.

“It is an important by-election as we are entrusted to keep at bay the PAS green wave that has swept through the Malay belt states in the past two years,” said Tengku Razaleigh.

He told The Malaysian Insight that BN, through its Umno Youth wing, was working to stop the wave, which revolves around race and religion, but conceded it was a hard fight.

“We have to face the mistrust the Malays have of the national unity government. That is further compounded by the struggle of the government to rein in the living costs and the sluggish outlook at the grassroots level. We need a more proactive stance from the government to clear up the misconceptions.”

Ku Li, 87, has offered advice to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on how to stimulate the economy to help the country weather the uncertain global economic conditions.

“The unity forces need to push back on extremism and policies such as tolerance for corruption, which tends to undermine rather than grow the economy.”

Umno deputy president Mohamed Hasan and vice-president Johari Abdul Ghani are campaigning in the by-election.

More than 20,000 voters will vote on Saturday. Eighty-five percent of them are Malay-Muslims while the rest are Orang Asli, Chinese, Indians, and others.

The constituency is mostly semi-rural, with many Felda, Kesedar, and Orang Asli settlements in and around the township of Gua Musang.

The main economic activities in the constituency are plantation, logging, and farming.