IF Sungai Buloh aspirant MP Khairy Jamaluddin can turn a new leaf from being leader of the notorious “Fourth Floor Boys” during the premiership reign of his father-in-law Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to be Malaysia’s “most admired (caretaker) health minister”, then Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim must pray that his hand-picked candidate for the hot seat can emulate Khairy within the next fortnight.
If former MIC treasurer-general R. Ramanan who is also the PKR deputy information chief fails to demonstrate a more ‘civilised demeanour’ to the media with whom he should befriend in close embrace from now till polling date for the 15th General Election (GE15) on Nov 19, then sad to say that the PKR president “must as well kiss Sungai Buloh good-bye”.
Apparently, the little-known Ramanan in the Sungai Buloh constituency circle lost his cool with the media this morning (Nov 5), protesting that the latter has treated him “unfairly by not providing him with a chance to reply before his stories were published” (Malaysiakini, Nov 5).
However, when the media explained that they were unable to reach him, he seemed unhappy with the assertion and claimed that the reporters were lying.
“When the media said Sungai Buloh would field a new candidate, or when they mentioned lots of issues, I was in fact, holding the watikah (letter of authorisation), (so) why didn’t I say anything?” he queried when he spoke to the media after his nomination. “Because there are so many media outlets, but none called me.”
Ramanan’s display of sheer arrogance when dealing with the media is very uncalled for even though it must be admitted that media has often portrayed him in bad light by describing him as a “political baggage” to PH because of a past business dealing.
Recall that psychiatrist Dr M. Mahadevan has sued Ramanan for allegedly fraudulently misrepresenting him on May 19, 2010 which led the former to transfer RM5.5 mil into Ramanan’s personal account.
Ramanan had allegedly shown a letter from the Defence Ministry to the then 81-year-old man and said he could retrieve Mahadevan’s debt from the ministry.
This led to Mahadevan paying Ramanan RM5.5 mil for the services, only to find out later that the letter was forged.
On Jan 23, 2014, Kuala Lumpur High Court agreed to Mahadevan’s application and ordered Ramanan to return the RM5.5 mil to the psychiatrist.
Well, it’s a tad too late to turn back the clock now as Anwar has overruled the recommendation of PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli for Sungai Buloh’s three-term incumbent MP Sivarasa Rasiah to be retained on “health” grounds.
The Sungai Buloh parliamentary seat is seeing seven-cornered contest with Khairy being the favourite lest Sivarasa’s past track record can swing votes in PH’s favour.
Apart from Khiary (BN-UMNO) and Ramanan (PH-PKR), the other candidates in the Malay majority constituency are Mohd Ghazali Md Hamin (PN-PAS), Mohd Akmal Mohd Yusoff (GTA-Pejuang), Ahmad Jufliz Faiza (PRM) and two independent candidates, Syed Abdul Razak Syed Long Alsagoff and Nurhaslinda Basri. – Nov 5, 2022
Main pic credit: Malaysiakini
