Top cop in the rinS for Barisan

Ex-Nsst aomm from asli community

KUALA LUMPUR: Barisan Nasional will field Ramli Mohd Noor, a top cop from the orang asli community for the Cameron Highlands by-election on Jan 26.

Ramli, 61, is a direct member of the Barisan coalition and is a former Assistant Commissioner of Police who is currently completing his postgraduate studies.

Barisan acting chairman Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said naming Ramli is a departure from Barisan tradition as the coalition has always fielded candidates from the parties within the coalition.

He said Ramli will be representing all of the parties in Barisan in the parliamentary seat which was traditionally set aside for MIC.

“We thank MIC for their magnanimity for giving up contesting the seat and letting us field a Barisan candidate. We also thank PAS for not contesting,” said Mohamad.

Ramli, who has never contested in any election, has many relatives among the orang asli community around Cameron Highlands, said Mohamad.

He is also the treasurer of the Peninsula Orang Asli Association (POASM).

Ramli has served in Penang, Negri Sembilan and Johor. His last posting was in the Commercial Crime Investigation Unit in Bukit Aman.

He will be contesting against Pakatan Harapan’s M. Manogaran from DAP and MyPPP president Tan Sri M. Kayveas.

The Cameron Highlands parliamentary constituency has 32,009 registered voters.

On Nov 30, the Election Court declared Barisan’s win during GE14 null and void, after it found corrupt practices were committed.

The incumbent Datuk C. Sivarraajh did not appeal the court’s decision. The Election Commission (EC) has also barred Sivarraajh from contesting for five years.

MIC president Tan Sri S.A. Vigneswaran said he agreed to give up the seat in Cameron Highlands because “the party’s confidence dropped 50%” after the incumbent MP was stripped of his seat by the courts and the EC.

“Insisting on the seat and losing it permanently is not a very intelligent thing to do,” he said.

Vigneswaran was speaking to the media on the sidelines after Barisan announced that it would field Ramli.

“Barisan never gave us pressure to give up the seat; only at the last (minute) did the Umno president say: ‘Can we propose a candidate to win (Cameron Highlands) for BN?’

“In a by election as compared to a general election, we have to face the full wrath of the government. We do not have the strength and they are going for the orang asli, which is going to be the easy target.

“They (the government) are doing a convention tomorrow specifically to garner the votes of the orang asli.,” said Vigneswaran.