Najib leads 32 BN incumbents to defend Pahang
KUANTAN: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak leads 32 Barisan Nasional (BN) incumbents who will contest in the 14th general election (GE14) in Pahang besides 16 new faces.
Apart from Najib, who has defended the Pekan Parliamentary seat for 10 terms, Pahang Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob will also defend the Pelangai state seat for the eighth term.
Other big names defending their seats included Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai (Bentong Parliamentary seat), Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob (Bera Parliamentary seat), Datuk Seri Ismail Abd Muttalib (Maran Parliamentary seat) and Datuk Seri Ismail Said (Kuala Krau Parliamentary seat).
These names were announced by Adnan, who is also Pahang BN chairman, at the ceremony to announce and hand over the letter of electoral candidacy to Pahang BN candidates for GE14 at Yayasan Pahang, here yesterday.
Meanwhile, among the new faces featured as candidates for Parliamentary seats were the special officer to Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai (Kuantan), Datuk Wong Kiew Lee; Pahang Umno Youth head Mohd Shahar Abdullah (Paya Besar) and Indera Mahkota Umno division committee member Johan Mat Sah (Indera Mahkota).
For the State Legislative Assembly seats, 13 new faces were being nominated, mostly from the MCA.
They were Leong Tack Man (Tanah Rata), Lee Ah Wong (Cheka), Eng Lek Pong (Tras), Lim Chow Lee (Damak), Kuek Tei Sion (Semambu), Tee Choon Ser (Teruntum), Wong Tai Cei (Mentakab), Poo Moon Hiong (Bilut).
While the Umno nominees were Nadzri Ngah (Pulau Tawar), Datuk Seri Tengku Zulkifly Tengku Ahmad (Tanjung Lumpur), Abdul Rahim Muda (Lepar), Datuk Nor Azmi Mat Ludin (Kuala Semantan), Ir Razali Kassim (Muadzam Shah).
In addition, two candidates were making a comeback namely MIC Youth head Datuk C Sivarraajh who would contest the Cameron Highlands Parliamentary seat.
He had previously contested in the state constituency of Buntong, Perak in GE13 but lost to the DAP candidate, A. Sivasubramaniam.
MCA vice-president Chew Mei Fun would contest the Raub Parliamentary seat which formerly became a tussle between UMNO and MCA.
Chew had previously contested in the by-election for the Kajang state seat in 2014 but lost to the PKR candidate Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
The exclusion of the incumbent Assemblyman for the Muadzam Shah state seat Datuk Seri Maznah Mazlan, who was a former Deputy Minister of Human Resources, came as a surprise and was replaced by newcomer Ir Razali Kassim.
Besides Maznah, others dropped were the incumbent Assemblyman for Pulau Tawar who was replaced by newcomer Nadzri Ngah, and Damak incumbent Assemblyman Datuk Lau Lee who was replaced by Lim Chow Lee.