Ku Li has yet to respond to Pakatan’s invitation. But so far it seems like Umno could be the wrong party for the Kelantan prince all this while. Bear in mind that records shows that this Umno veteran is already known to have opposition-friendly tendencies. Back in his Semangat 46 days, the party forged a coalition called Gagasan Rakyat with Democratic Action Party (DAP), Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) and PAS. One thing for sure is, if there’s ever a best time for Ku Li to switch side now would be it.
He sounds like an Opposition leader, but he’s not. In fact, he almost became the Umno president and the prime minister after losing to old rival Dr Mahathir Mohamad in the 1987 party election by a very narrow margin.
You either love or hate Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. The ruling party (for now) has reasons to despise him for the critical statements he makes on the government policies. More lately, sixteen grassroots Umno leaders in his parliamentary constituency of Gua Musang have urged the long-term MP not to defend his seat in the coming general election. The leaders said this in response to a report quoting Tengku Razaleigh as having said he was prepared to contest as an independent if he was not nominated for the Gua Musdang seat again by Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN).
"We, as leaders at the grassroots level, sometimes feel ashamed and sad over the statements made by Tengku Razaleigh, as they are in support of the opposition, especially on the issue of the Kelantan oil royalty and the Felda listing on Bursa Malaysia," said Umno Bandar Lama branch leader Ab Wahab Yunus.
According to reports, the call was made at a meeting yesterday, chaired by Ab Wahab and attended by three division leaders, six branch heads and representatives from Kesedar and Felda. Ab Wahab claimed that Tengku Razaleigh, or popularly known as Ku Li, no longer had an influence, both at the divisional and federal levels, and that the former finance minister seemed to have lost his stand on Umno and the BN. Meanwhile, division leader Ab Aziz Mohamad described Ku Li as only putting forward his own personal struggle to seek for posts within the government or Umno, and was not concerned about the problems of the people of Gua Musang and the Kesedar settlers.
"This shows that Tengku Razaleigh is not a leader that we can depend on like before. I ask him to honorably withdraw, and make way for a young leader to contest," Ab Aziz said.
Ab Wahab expressed concern over Umno’s chances in winning the pivotal 13th General Election and that the controversial statements issued by their MP who had been leading the Gua Musang division for 37 years have not been helping in the transformation in the party’s struggle. Meanwhile, PAS vice president Salahuddin Ayub said yesterday that Pakatan Rakyat was willing to negotiate with Ku Li if he was interested in defending Gua Musang on Pakatan’s ticket.
Ku Li has yet to respond to Pakatan’s invitation. But so far it seems like Umno could be the wrong party for the Kelantan prince all this while. Bear in mind that records shows that this Umno veteran is already known to have opposition-friendly tendencies. Back in his Semangat 46 days, the party forged a coalition called Gagasan Rakyat with Democratic Action Party (DAP), Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) and PAS. One thing for sure is, if there’s ever a best time for Ku Li to switch side now would be it.
