‘DR M WANTS SON TO BE MB’

Ex-PM may field Mukhriz in Selangor, says Umno man

TUN Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s hints at the possibility of fielding his son, Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, in Selangor reveals a plot to usher in the latter as the state menteri besardesignate.

Selangor Umno information exco Norman Toha also claimed that Dr Mahathir, who is Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) chairman, was using the ongoing row between PKR and Parti Amanah Negara (PAN) to slide in Mukhriz as a viable candidate.

PKR and PAN are at each other ’s throats over allocation of seats in the state.

Norman said Dr Mahathir’s ploy could also be a strategy to reject other menteri besar candidates from DAP should the opposition continue to rule Selangor.

“If the approach was implemented due to his unpopularity in Kedah, Mukhriz should also remember that the situation here is the same with the people of Selangor.

“In any constituency, the people will not accept representatives who do not go to the ground, meet the people or solve their problems,” Norman said yesterday.

He was commenting on speculation that Mukhriz would be contesting in Selangor, which came on the heels of a recent suggestion by Dr Mahathir that he did not rule out such a possibility.

Norman, who was also former Selangor Pas secretary, said he had been made to understand that the people in Mukhriz’s constituency of Air Hitam, Kedah, had rejected the PPBM deputy president after he had “neglected” the locals there.

PPBM former youth exco leader Muhd Syazwan Ahmad Zainal concurred that Dr Mahathir was aware of his son’s lack of popularity among Kedahans.

“He (Dr Mahathir) thinks that by fielding his son in a Selangor constituency is a safer bet because he believes Mukhriz will lose if he contests elsewhere.”

However, political analyst Associate Professor Datuk Dr Ismail Sualman said the hints by Dr Mahathir were merely theatrics to divert attention from the ongoing seat tussle between Pakatan Harapan partners in Selangor.

“I don’t think Mukhriz will be contesting in Selangor.

“This is a political strategy to divert the unresolved issue of seat allocation in Selangor.”

Ismail said the speculation was likely concocted by Dr Mahathir to ease Selangor’s allocation of seats issue.

“Maybe Dr Mahathir is deliberately spreading the idea that his son will contest in Selangor to take the spotlight away from the seat allocation issue there.”