WHERE are the Sheraton movers now? What are they doing come the 15th General Election (GE15)? We know that it’s main initiator, Datuk Seri Azmin Ali will be defending his Gombak constituency as a Bersatu candidate under the Perikatan Nasional coalition (PN), a move which this time around may see him lose his deposit to a stronger challenger, who is none other that PKR affiliated Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari.
While incumbent Ampang MP Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin will defend her seat under Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) also aligned to Parti Gabungan Sarawak (GPS), Zuraida’s affiliation however may not be an issue for her as she has been a great and hardworking grassroots MP since 2008 when she first won the Ampang seat which she has since.
Ampang voters are much inclined to vote for the candidate of their choice rather than a new elected representative. Zuraida, who is known as “Ibu Bangsa Malaysia” despite some internal fiascos between her and PBM founder Larry Sng, can defend her seat well despite facing former colleague Rodziah Ismail from PKR.
Whereas, Azmin on the other hand faced a suit by a group of Gombak voters for what they claim was his failure to perform his fiduciary duties and provide representations for his constituents. The case was, however, dismissed. Disappointingly, his term as Gombak MP may be seeing its final days. Azmin, once a Gombak favourite, has lost his charm to woo the Gombak voters once again.
Meanwhile, the other prominent defector Segambut incumbent, Datuk Seri Dr Edmund Santara, also a PBM candidate, left Bersatu just like Zuraida on the bandwagon that PBM represented multi-ethnicity.
Santara who won in Segamat during GE14 had captured the hearts of the Segamat people then when he contested under the PKR ticket, ending the term of former health minister Datuk Seri Dr S.Subramaniam from MIC, however now he may have to face the likelihood of losing his seat after becoming one of the nine MPs who defected alongside Azmin during the Sheraton move.
PKR candidate for Segamat was not announced by the Pakatan Harapan leadership, while MIC candidate, MP Ramasamy is slated to contest in Segamat.
The other MPs that defected have not much influence in GE15 as they were not party favorites then, nor were they changemakers within their constitutions.
While PAS President, Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang who claims that he was the main initiator of the Sheraton Move has also no hope in terms of having much say in national politics except for the fact that he might be able to defend his incumbent Marang seat, having huge support in the east coast state of Kelantan.
Hadi’s extremist views of championing the Malay rights had resulted in him being scorned by the non-Muslims and liberal Malays, over his latest remark which he had vehemently denied where he said that non-Muslims and non-bumiputeras were the root cause of corruption.
With such a distorted view towards the non-Muslims, we can be sure that PAS will not be given the mandate even by the Malay liberals. His brand of racism intending to divide the country will not sit well with the majority of Malaysians who want change, similarly hoping to put an end to religious radicals.
The Sheraton movers don’t have much of a future in politics having been described as “traitors” and “frogs”. Moreover, their credibility and integrity has already been undermined by the rakyat.
Little did they know, their decision to topple the Pakatan Harapan government only cost them. With the exception of perhaps Zuraida and Azmin, the rest might have to soon bid farewell to politics. – Nov 4, 2022
Main photo credit: Bernama
