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Sunday November 18, 2007

Titiwangsa courted

INSIGHT
By JOCELINE TAN


The Titiwangsa parliamentary seat is like a belle who is being wooed by eight suitors, all of them eager to be the next MP.

DATUK Seri Najib Tun Razak had seen it all before. Thus, the Umno deputy president was able to keep his composure and even look a little bemused when the Titiwangsa Umno division announced in his presence that they did not want a “payung terjun” or parachute in the area.

Titiwangsa information chief Datuk Yusof Izaha received a good round of applause when he said this at the opening of the division AGM a few months ago.

He was, of course, referring to Titiwangsa MP Datuk Astaman Aziz who had “parachuted in” to replace former MP and Titiwangsa warlord Datuk Seri Suleiman Mohamad in the last general election. The choice of Astaman as a candidate was a matter of some controversy because he was then the Wangsa Maju Umno chief – in others words, an outsider.

Some people in the party were taken aback by such a direct demand made of the party leadership.

But as Suleiman pointed out, when the 87 branches in the division held their AGMs, all of them had rejected another parachute candidate in the next elections.

“They want someone from within the division and it was our duty to raise it at the division meeting. But we will accept what the top leaders decide because we are Umno loyalists,” said Suleiman who has been unchallenged as division chief for 22 years.

The Federal Territory, where Titiwangsa is located, has only 13 parliamentary seats (including Putrajaya and Labuan) of which only five are allocated to Umno.

Inside track: As chairman of the Kampung Baru mosque, Datuk Aziz Jamaluddin (seen here handing over a memento to the Prime Minister) is definitely on the list of potential candidates. Incumbent Datuk Astaman Aziz (to PM's right) has an impressive track record but has not been accepted by the division grassroots leaders.

As a result, aspiring Umno politicians in the FT are always hard-pressed for a seat to contest, and Titiwangsa’s insistence on a home-grown candidate is unlikely to deter aspiring politicians.

At last count, there were eight aspirants for the seat, four of whom are from outside the constituency.

And these aspirants are not the run-of-the-mill Umno types. They are mostly well educated, worldly and affluent. They are part of the success story of the NEP and they range from a bank chairman to the former brother-in-law of the King.

Umno delegates lamenting the shortfalls of the NEP during the recent Umno general assembly were certainly not referring to this group. For instance, one of them once came to an Umno meeting in an Aston Martin, the so-called “James Bond car”.

Among the potential candidates from within the constituency is division chief Suleiman who is still willing to serve although he said his dream was to see someone younger from the division becoming the next MP.

Most people say it is difficult to see Suleiman making a comeback even with his iron-grip on the division because, as one of his committee members said, “you cannot turn back the clock.”

Strong aspirants

The strongest contender from the division is quite likely Datuk Aziz Jamaluddin. He is only a division committee member but his clout lies in being chairman of Mesjid Kampung Baru, which he helped develop and which is twinned to the mosque in Kepala Batas, the Prime Minister's political base.

He is also known to be close to Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who makes it a point to perform terawih prayers in Kampung Baru during the fasting month. He was also a top aide of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak when the latter was Education Minister.

More recently, he won the highest number of votes among the G7, the annual election of seven delegates from the division to attend the general assembly. It was a hint of his popularity in the division.

The leading candidate among aspirants from outside the division is Umno treasurer-general and Bukit Bintang division chief Datuk Seri Azim Zabidi.

The Umno treasurer usually has a seat and government post and there is no reason to suggest why the time has not come for Azim, who had been slated to contest in Putrajaya in 2004. His name was withdrawn at the final hour because he was then still suspended for campaign violations during the party polls.

Where does all this leave the incumbent Astaman?

By most accounts he has done a tremendous job serving the constituency.

“He is a workaholic and residents know him as the YB who comes to PIBG meetings on his motorbike to beat the traffic jams in the city,” said an Umno colleague.

Of course, he rides one of those fancy superbikes but Astaman has been committed to the education cause since his days as Wangsamaju Umno chief. His Titiwangsa Education Foundation has given out more than RM300,000 to students who have done well in their studies.

The much-gerrymandered area is shaped like the letter “Z” and constituents range from the Malay heartland of Kampung Baru and Datuk Keramat to embassies and high-end condos.

Astaman's detractors point to the fact that he is still suspended from holding any party posts for money politics violations.

“If they choose me I will accept. I'm not going to hang on, kicking and screaming; despite what people say, I will not use my mother (former Wanita Umno chief Tan Sri Aishah Ghani). I have a track record and I leave everything in God’s hands,” said Astaman.

Ultimately, the candidate has to be electable, meaning he has to have the winning edge.

Umno will do whatever it takes to hold on to Titiwangsa because it is home to Kampung Baru and Datuk Keramat, two Malay bastions in the city.

There is talk that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is eyeing three possible FT constituencies, namely Titiwangsa, Lembah Pantai and Bandar Tun Razak. Suleiman's supporters are projecting him as the only person who can take on Anwar if he contests in Titiwangsa.

The final decision lies with the Prime Minister but FT chairman Datuk Seri Zulhasnan Rafique will have a huge say on the choice of candidate. And it is no secret that Zulhasnan has the ear of Abdullah.

Some have wondered why Putrajaya, which is still free of warlord politics, is not under the same sort of lobbying as, say, Titiwangsa.

One reason is that the incumbent MP Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor is not seen to be in as shaky a position as Astaman who is virtually excluded from activities of the division.

But lobbying for Putrajaya may intensify if the video clip showing a prominent lawyer allegedly brokering judicial appointments turns out to be authentic and especially now that a Royal Commission of Inquiry is likely to be set up.

In the meantime, the courtship of Titiwangsa will go on.

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