On Tuesday, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi named the Johor Umno deputy chief as the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for Pulai.
This followed calls from various business groups and the party’s grassroots to field him to regain the traditional BN seat.
“I’m answering Umno’s call to come back and wrest the seat which BN has been holding since 1969, including seven terms by my late father.
“I want to win back the seat in his memory and for the party so that BN is back in the driver’s seat in Putrajaya.
“The people in Pulai have fond memories of my father as he had served them as MP for 30 years,” he told FMT, referring to former information minister Mohamed Rahmat, who held the seat for a record seven terms from 1969 to 1999.
Nur Jazlan will be facing Salahuddin Ayub of Pakatan Harapan (PH), who defeated him in GE14, and Loh Kah Yong of Perikatan Nasional (PN) in Pulai.
Pulai is a mixed seat with Malay voters making up 45%, Chinese 40%, Indians 12% and others 3%.
In GE14, Salahuddin polled 55,447 votes against Nur Jazlan’s 26,523 votes.
Nur Jazlan, who is also a former deputy home minister, admitted that it would be a tough election, especially with Salahuddin back in the ring.
He said he would definitely be the underdog despite him having served three terms as Pulai MP prior to his loss in 2018.
“Put it this way – the battle in GE14 was totally different with voters being angry with the BN government, mainly over the 1MDB scandal on one hand and the many impossible promises PH made on the other. It was difficult overcoming the two issues.
“In GE15, the people will not be convinced by such promises and the 1MDB saga is not an issue any more.
“They want political stability and want the rising cost of living to be tackled. I believe BN can deliver on this, but I won’t underestimate my rivals whoever they are,” Nur Jazlan said.
He was confident that the Malays who opted for PH in 2018 (when Bersatu was in the coalition) would return to the BN fold after seeing the mess created by the PH government during the 22 months under Dr Mahathir Mohamad and later under a PN-led government, with Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister.
“I think the people know that you cannot experiment with governments in the present economic climate amid global challenges.
“We need an experienced party to lead the country and put it back on the right track,” he said.