SHOULD Tawfik Ismail, the former Sungai Benut MP and son of the late Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, give up his desire to topple UMNO president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in the latter’s Bagan Datuk stronghold by leaving that so-called arduous task to PKR’s vice-president Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin, who is also eyeing that hot seat?
After all, the incumbent Hang Tuah Jaya MP, who is dubbed “a giant killer” for having defeated former Melaka menteri besar Tun Mohd Ali Rustam in the Bukit Katil parliamentary seat in the 2013 polls, would have access to “bigger election machinery” for a face-off with Zahid, who is also the Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman.
For the record, Shamsul has expressed his intention to follow his boss, PKR president and Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, to Perak as part of the Pakatan Harapan’s Bangkit Perak (Rise Perak) strategy to wrest control of the silver state during the 15th General Elections (GE15) on Nov 19.
“If Anwar can go to Tambun, then I feel some of us senior people in the party should also go down to Perak. So, I offered myself for Bagan Datuk,” Shamsul told news portal The Vibes recently.
The former deputy primary industries minister added: “Anwar has shown leadership by going to an area that is not considered a safe seat. Others should follow his lead and give up their comfortable seats and take on more formidable seats in this election.”
Just as recent as Oct 13, Tawfik, who was part of Gerak Independent’s (GI) team when it was founded, texted his chat groups that he will fight in Bagan Datuk “and anywhere else Zahid chooses to stand”.
“I think this is totally in sync with the stated mission of GI,” pointed out former CEO/managing director of Genovasi Malaysia (under whose umbrella includes the Genovasi d.schools) Datuk Lee Yew Meng said in an opinion published in the Malay Mail.
“Tawfik could have also targeted Anwar to be dethroned if he thought Anwar would have been a disastrous PM or that a PH (Pakatan) administration is a no-go,” he added.
“Obviously, he didn’t think it necessary to go for Langkawi or Pagoh as both GTA (Gerak Tanah Air) and PN (Perikatan Nasional) are most unlikely to be the lead coalition to form the next administration.”
No doubt Tawfik deserves praise for harbouring such a high ambition to take on Zahid on his home turf but going solo will not do the trick for it can be assumed that a vast majority of the Bagan Datuk electorate is by now “beholden” to their six-term incumbent MP in one way or another.
In the previous 14th General Elections (GE14), Zahid retained his seat by a majority of 51.37% against Pakatan’s Pakhrurrazi Arshad and PAS’ Ata Abdul Muneim Hasan Adli. The current electoral roll sees the number of voters in the constituency increase from 45,000 to 58,000.
However, given that the task of “slaying the giant” requires massive manpower and campaigning tools, perhaps Tawfik should take a step back by solely lending his moral support to PKR/Pakatan to topple the UMNO warlord, lest he only split the vote count (which shall then favour Zahid) by contesting under his GI banner. – Oct 22, 2022
