Zainuri: I would be honoured if given the chance to serve the people of Port Klang.
KLANG: The Port Klang state constituency holds a special place in Zainuri Zainal’s heart as it was his late father, Datuk Zainal Deros, who started the effort to turn it into a Malay majority seat.
“It was just before the 2004 general election and my father was the Klang Umno chief and the Selat Klang assemblyman.
“There were three state constituencies under the Klang parliamentary constituency and none of the three was a Malay majority seat,’’ reminisced Zainuri who is the current Klang Umno division chief.
The Port Klang seat was at that time represented by an assemblyman from MCA in line with the demographics of the area.
Zainuri narrated how his father had approached the then Sementa assemblyman Datuk Abdul Rahman Palil and Sijangkang assemblyman Datuk Abdul Fatah Iskandar to propose that each transfer a Malay enclave from their areas to Port Klang.
“He managed to convince them and it was after that that Pulau Indah from Sementa and Kampung Pendamar from Sijangkang were delineated to come under Port Klang constituency.
“This changed the voter demographics and Port Klang became almost 58% Malay,’’ said Zainuri.
Zainal subsequently contested and won the Port Klang seat in the 2004 general election but lost it to PKR in the 2008 polls.
He died of cardiac arrest not long after that.
Zainuri said he would be honoured if given a chance to serve the people of Port Klang, just like his late father, if the seat was indeed allocated to Umno.
It is learnt that PKR will be giving the Port Klang seat to Umno in the state polls.
Sources also say the seat will go to Zainuri who will be turning 50 at the end of the year.
“I know the Port Klang seat belongs to PKR but we are working together as a team now and perhaps due consideration will be given to enable Umno to represent the Malay electorate in Klang,’’ said Zainuri.
The current Port Klang assemblyman is PKR’s Azmizam Zaman Huri.
PKR is part of the Pakatan Harapan coalition, while Umno leads Barisan Nasional. The former rivals are now part of the unity government alliance and are working together in the Selangor polls which are slated for Aug 12.
Sources within both coalitions said that the state seats of Port Klang and Gombak Setia, which have traditionally been contested by PKR, are likely to be given to Umno.
It is learnt that Gombak Setia seat will go to Selangor Umno chief Datuk Megat Zulkarnain Omardin, who is also the party’s Gombak division chairman.
When contacted, Selangor Umno youth chief Datuk Imran Tamrin said that Umno will be contesting in not less than 11 constituencies in Selangor.
Megat Zulkarnain said he had proposed three names for each of the constituencies that Umno is contesting.
“Umno has finalised its candidates list which has already been handed over to party president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for the final decision.”
