When met after being nominated yesterday, the former reporter said voters should evaluate how he could serve them based on his experience in the government sector.
“Don’t merely look at who my employer was but rather do consider my administrative experience.
“In the past I had also indirectly worked for former Johor menteri besar Khaled Nordin, and so I don’t think this is an issue,” he told FMT.
He also dismissed claims that there were some in the Bersatu leadership who were unhappy with his nomination, maintaining that his candidacy was a strategic decision by the party.
“We have certain strategies in place and I think there is no question of dissatisfaction or anything like that,” he said.
Meanwhile, Barisan Nasional’s candidate for the seat, Hairi Mad Shah, said the six-cornered fight was not necessarily an advantage for him, believing that all the contesting parties had an even chance of winning the seat.
“This is the democractic process and we must welcome any candidate who is nominated.
“As for BN, we are committed to promoting new faces. And as you know, all six candidates contesting for this seat are new faces.”
Zulkifli and Hairi are in a six-way fight for Larkin, which will also see Muda’s Rasid Abu Bakar and PKR’s Dr Zamil Najwah clashing.
Pejuang has also fielded a candidate, Riadz Mohamad Hashim. Norramadan Buan is standing as an independent.
The Larkin seat was won by Bersatu’s Izhar Ahmad in 2018, when the party contested under Pakatan Harapan, with 25,012 votes, giving him a majority of 8,590 votes.
Johor goes to the polls on March 12, with early voting slated for March 8.