Former Tasek Gelugor MP Datuk Seri Mohd Shariff Omar will be expelled from Barisan Nasional (BN) component party Umno if he stands for elections as an independent on May 5, said Penang Umno chief Datuk Zainal Abidin Osman today.
“Any Umno member or leader who stands as an independent or chooses to support Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in the upcoming polls, will be expelled from the party,” he told a press conference today.
Responding to Mohd Shariff’s statement last night that he will contest as an independent candidate for the Tasek Gelugor parliamentary seat, Zainal said Mohd Shariff should be guiding the chosen candidates and helping them to win the campaign instead of doing this.
“He should be giving them the chance to contest as before this, they were the ones who had helped him to campaign and win the seat previously,” he said of Mohd Shariff.
The Umno veteran had openly criticised BN for choosing candidates that the “people do not want” when announcing his plans to contest for the seat.
He had said all four seats in Tasek Gelugor, one parliament and three state seats, will be lost since BN did not pick the “right”candidates to contest in Election 2013.
Yesterday, Penang BN announced its candidate line-up in which 33 our of 53 candidates were new faces.
Former Permatang Berangan state assemblyman Shabudin Yahaya has been picked to defend Tasek Gelugor after Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop decided not to defend his seat.
Mohd Shariff, who is also the former Agriculture and Agro-based Industries deputy minister, has been wanting to re-contest in that seat and was displeased that he was not picked this time around.
He had held the Tasek Gelugor seat for two terms between 1999 and 2008 before he gave way to Nor Mohamed Yakcop to contest for the seat in 2008.
Zainal said Mohd Shariff should be sharing his experience and giving guidance to the candidates instead of criticising the party for its choice of candidates.
“He has held so many positions in Umno for over 20 years so it is time that he give way to the young and to show his loyalty to the party by helping the party win this elections,” he said.
Zainal also urged other disappointed members, who had wanted to be candidates, not to contest as independents or under any of the PR component parties’ ticket.
The Penang BN deputy chief said they should all consider the party’s interest instead of thinking of their own interests.
“They should be helping the BN machinery to ensure that the chosen candidates win in the upcoming polls,” he said.
He reiterated that the list is finalised by the Prime Minister and BN chairman Datuk Seri Najib Razak and believed that those chosen are the best to serve the people.
However, Zainal said the party leaders will be meeting with the disgruntled members soon to listen to their grouses, talk to them and advice them to continue serving BN.
Ong remains popular with Pandan constituents. — ―
Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat is exploring a run for the Pandan constituency as an independent, days after he was dropped as Barisan Nasional’s (BN) candidate for Election 2013. In a post on his Facebook page today he asked voters: “Pandan voters, will you support an Ong Tee Keat candidacy as an independent?” Earlier this morning a handful of his followers were seen parading around a wet market in Pandan in support of him. Tonight, another group is planning a demonstration to express their backing for him. But with nomination day on Saturday looming, Ong has so far not committed himself to contesting. Speculation over what Ong will do is being played out against the backdrop of his rivalry with MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, who has been singled out as the man behind the decision. Dr Chua was quoted earlier today by the Chinese-language Nanyang Siangpau newspaper as saying the reason Ong had been dropped as a candidate was because he had been allegedly criticising BN and MCA.READMOREWhistleblower vs whistleblower can Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek last without sex? 
Ong said last week he would “cross the bridge when [he comes] to it”. —If Ong decides to stand as an independent, he will face his replacement from the party, 39-year-old lawyer Garry Lim Chin Yee, and PKR’s Rafizi Ramli. “I will cross the bridge when I come to it. MCA list will be judged by the people soon,” Ong told The Malaysian Insider earlier this week. Ong, who has been at loggerheads with his successor Dr Chua, is the five-term MP for the Pandan federal seat but was unceremoniously left out of the running
Former Tasik Gelugor MP Datuk Seri Mohd Shariff Omar announced last night he will still contest the seat despite Barisan Nasional (BN) choosing another candidate for the May 5 general election.
Shariff had expected to regain the berth after Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop agreed not to stand again despite winning there in Election 2008. It was one of two federal seats that BN won in Penang in that general election.
The former deputy minister with a strong following in Tasek Gelugor criticised the BN leadership for picking candidates that were against the people’s wishes.
“I will be a Pakatan Rakyat-friendly candidate for this seat,” the 65-year-old told reporters after an impromptu gathering of some 2,000 supporters outside his house here.
“I can be an independent, can be on DAP ticket, I can stand under PKR or PAS because all their leaders are my friends,” he added, hours after BN announced that Shahbudin Yahya will contest the Tasek Gelugor seat.
Shariff predicted that there could multi-cornered fight in Tasek Gelugor and the three state seats in that constituency.
Former Sungai Dua state assemblyman Datuk Jasmin Mohamed, who was dropped, could be defending his seat as an independent as BN has already picked a new face, Muhamad Yusoff Mohd Noor, to defend the state seat.
When asked if he was willing to face the consequences of being expelled from the party for contesting as an indedendent, Shariff said the party leadership could do so anytime.
“If they want to expel me, then by all means do so, do it tonight and don’t just threaten us,” he said.
Shariff insisted that he will stand as a candidate “no matter what” before warning BN that it may lose Tasek Gelugor, which is considered the coalition’s stronghold.
“If they are not careful, they should not expect Tasek Gelugor to be a safe constituency but actually a big risk that they’ve taken here,” he said.
The former deputy minister for Agriculture and Agro-based Industry first stood in Tasek Gelugor in 1999 where he won with a majority of 4,236 votes. In 2004, he beat PAS candidate Mujahid Yusof Rawa by a landslide 10,183-vote majority.
But he gave up the seat in 2008 for the then second finance minister Nor Mohamed, who kept the seat for BN with a 4,547-vote margin, defeating Ismail Salleh of PAS.
Mohan said “BN did not consider the sacrifices [he] made”.Another BN leader, A. Mohan, told a press conference earlier of his intention to contest the Batu Kawan federal seat and to resign from Gerakan.
“BN did not consider the sacrifices I made in these past four years to serve the people but the party obviously did not appreciate my hard work,” the BN Batu Kawan co-ordinator said.
Visibly upset, Mohan said he has also decided to quit from his party but he currently has no plans to join other parties.
“I was confident that we (BN) could win back the Batu Kawan seat if given the chance but now that they are going for a candidate who is new even in this area, we may not win,” he said.
when BN’s final list of contenders was finally handed over to component party chiefs. Aside from Ong, other political heavyweights dropped from the contest include MCA vice-presidents Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen and Gan Ping Sieu. Ong and Ng are the incumbent MPs for Pandan and Raub, respectively, while Gan was appointed senator after losing his Mengkibol state seat in Johor. Gan was once said to be on Ong’s team during a fractious faction war in MCA that took place shortly after the tumultuous 2008 polls saw the party’s parliamentary representation slashed by half. Dr Chua deposed Ong as MCA president in 2010, but the latter remains popular with independent Chinese voters and significant numbers within BN.READMOREPandan MP Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat have only himself to blame the perfumes of Barisan Ong insisted last February that he would contest as a BN candidate in Pandan ― going up against PKR strategy director Rafizi, a well-known opposition politician ― after Dr Chua dropped him from the party’s nominees list for the 13th general election. Ong had at the time also brushed off a question on whether he would choose to stand as an independent candidate should BN decide against selecting him to defend Pandan. He also would not say if he felt he was BN’s or Najib’s choice candidate for the seat. Both points, he said then, were merely speculation that he should not dwell on until a concrete decision is announced by the BN leadership. It is understood that Ong is favoured by senior leaders in Umno to defend his Pandan parliamentary seat because of his personal popularity among constituents there. Observers also believe that the best chance for BN to retain the seat was to field Ong, especially in a contest against Rafizi, known as PKR’s “exposé man”. MCA won only 15 out of 40 parliamentary seats that it contested in Election 2008; seven of the seats it won are located in Johor.READMOREDulu 56 kini 20 PAPAMUGOMO decodes selama-lama zero
