The Kota Belud MP said he was confident that Jumat would remain in Umno.
“I believe he will find within himself that the party is number one. So, I think we should wait and see because I think, after nomination day, we will organise programmes to go to the ground and meet the people together,” he said after attending a community programme in Sepanggar today.
Asked on Jumat’s absence at the programme, Rahman said they had an understanding that each will do their work respectively.
He said he was present in his capacity as a minister in charge of Putrajaya’s Economic Planning Unit, adding that there are many federal projects in Sepanggar.
“We need to monitor these projects while at the same time, I will also go down to the ground to see the people as the minister in charge of EPU.
“Once the Cabinet is dissolved and if it is my fate to be the candidate here, then that would be the most suitable time for the people to see me and Jumat together,” he said.
Jumat, who has headed Sepanggar Umno since 2008, won the seat with a 9,442-vote majority, polling 22,845 votes against DAP’s Jeffrey Kumin who secured 13,403 votes.
Others in the race for the Sepanggar seat then were SAPP’s Chong Hon Kiong who polled 4,070 votes while Daniel John Jambun of STAR had to settle for 1,931 votes.
Sepanggar has some 62,000 voters, 51% of whom are Muslim Bumiputera, 26% Chinese and 21% non-Muslim Bumiputera.
Jumat was suspended from Umno for three years in 2015 for criticising Chief Minister Musa Aman in a Facebook post.
Rahman today said he still believed in Jumat’s loyalty.
“Personally, I have met with Jumat face to face and we decided, whatever happened in Sepanggar, our mission is the same, namely to retain the Sepanggar seat and capture the Inanam state seat which is currently held by the opposition, as well as to retain Karambunai, the other state seat under Sepanggar.
“This is the objective and it can only be achieved if all leaders respect the decision made by the national BN chairman Najib Razak and state BN chairman Musa Aman.
“I do not foresee any major problem here and having met several parties, for them all these depend on the decision by Najib and Musa,” he said.
Sepanggar MP Jumat working hard but future clouded by suspension