KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 28 — Acting Umno president Datuk Mohamad Hasan said he will contest the Rantau by-election even if it results in his political "death”.

The former Negri Sembilan mentri besar was the three-time Rantau assemblyman who lost the seat after the Special Election Court annulled his uncontested victory from the 14th general election.

"I am contesting in Rantau. It is my hometown. I will not run away. (If I am to lose), let me ‘die’ in my hometown,” he was quoted as saying by the Malaysiakini news portal.

He was stripped of the seat after the court decided that his would-be opponent, Rembau PKR division deputy chief Dr S. Streram, was unlawfully prevented from submitting his nomination papers, which led to Mohamad’s automatic victory.

Rantau is the country’s next major political bellwether after this Saturday’s hotly-contested Semenyih by-election.

Umno is likely to deploy its full remaining might to aid the chances of its acting leader commonly called Tok Mat.

Mohamad will have the advantage of his previous incumbency in the area as well as the support of major party leaders in surrounding constituencies.

Former Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin is the MP for Rembau, the federal constituency that Rantau falls under.

Barisan Nasional secured a convincing win in the Cameron Highlands federal seat ahead of Semenyih in a campaign rife with racial and religious overtones.

There is growing concern that yet another victory for BN via the Umno-PAS cooperation could signal a dangerous return to polarised communal politics in Malaysia.