Khalid repeats stand not to defend Bandar Tun Razak seat

KUALA LUMPUR: Partyless Bandar Tun Razak MP Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim yesterday repeated his stand not to contest in the 14th general election ( GE14) even though he had been ‘offered’ by several parties to represent them and defend the seat.

The independent MP said he wanted to make way for other candidates and to focus more on social work.

“( Representative from) my former party ( PKR) has met me, PAS has also been asking, but I have decided not to contest,” the former Selangor Menteri Besar told Bernama at the Parliament House here yesterday.

Abdul Khalid, 72, said after being the MP for Bandar Tun Razak for more than a decade, he sincerely felt that the constituents should have a new and younger representative to listen and find solutions to their concerns.

“I feel the time has come and I want to hand over the duties to those who are interested to be the next MP for Bandar Tun Razak,” he said.

In the GE12, Abdul Khalid contested under the PKR banner, beating Barisan Nasional ( BN) candidate Datuk (now Tan Sri) Tan Chai Ho with 2,515-vote majority.

He retained the seat in GE13, with 11, 832-vote majority in a four- cornered fight between BN, PKR and two Independent candidates.

On Aug 9, 2014, Abdul Khalid, a well-known corporate figure before entering politics in 2007, was sacked from PKR for going against the party’s decision in choosing Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah as the candidate for Selangor Menteri Besar’s post.

— Bernama