Ramli Mohd Nor said he would not follow in the footsteps of those who recently quit Umno or join Pakatan Harapan.

“BN is always close to my heart,” the former police officer said when met during a walkabout with former prime minister Najib Razak.

If he wins the Pahang federal seat, Ramli will be the first Orang Asli to enter Dewan Rakyat.

Pahang Menteri Besar Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail is also confident that Ramli would not defect like some Umno MPs.

“He will not jump (ship), trust me, he won’t,” said Wan Rosdy when met by reporters, adding that BN “has a way to ensure” Ramli would not defect.

“As the Pahang BN chairman, I want to give assurance to the people of Cameron Highlands that Ramli, if he wins the by-election, will not leave the coalition.”

Ramli is facing PH candidate M Manogaran from DAP, and two independent candidates Sallehudin Ab Talib and Wong Seng Yee.

Wan Rosdy said BN was confident of winning the Cameron Highlands seat again despite facing PH’s machinery.

“The PH government is faced with problems including on policies, U-turns and petrol prices.

“What happened to their manifesto? You don’t have to ask me,” he said.

Meanwhile, Wan Rosdy announced that the state government had approved some 51 applications for temporary occupancy licences (TOL) and was processing 20 more.

It was reported that farmers were faced with delays in getting their TOL renewed.

Wan Rosdy rejected the claim, saying the state had always renewed TOL.

“But you cannot expect it to be done instantly. It takes time as we have to go and inspect the land which they have applied, to ensure that they are not farming on more land than they have been allocated,” he said.

He said the state was also willing to consider renewing toll for a period of up to 30 years.

“The state government is very friendly, they can come to us,” he added.