Tuesday February 12, 2013

Two names put forward as possible Barisan candidate for Mukah

MUKAH: Two names including an incumbent had been proposed as Barisan Nasional candidates to contest the local parliamentary seat in the coming elections.

Prime Minister and Barisan chairman, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, however, will only announce one name when the time comes.

A potential candidate is believed to be Datuk Maliki Mahli from Oya near here.

A businessman in his 50s, Maliki is a former secretary of former Federal minister Datuk Effendi Norwawi.

News about Maliki’s proposed candidacy including his mugshot was published in a local Chinese daily at the end of last January.

Mukah SUPP chairman, Yeo Tiong Ing, was quoted as having said that Maliki visited him on the first day of Chinese New Year here and told him about it.

“If Maliki was picked as the candidate, he would need the support of the local people, especially the Chinese,” said Yeo, who is also Mukah Foochow Association chairman, when welcoming Mukah-Dalat walikota, Ali Suhaili, to his Chinese New Year open house yesterday.

Former federal minister, Datuk Seri Dr Muhammad Leo Toyad, who is in his 60s, is the incumbent MP for Mukah.

Within Mukah parliamentary seat are two state seats namely Balingian, which is represented by Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, and Dalat represented by Welfare, Women and Family Development Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah.