KUALA LUMPUR, June 27 — Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman said today that he is confident of winning the Pasar Salak federal seat if he is dropped by Umno, following his sacking from the Malay nationalist party's Supreme Council recently.
The three-term Pasir Salak MP said it is possible that he can contest as an independent that supports Umno, jokingly adding that he may even consider Islamist party PAS' offer to fight under its banner.
"If they want to do it in a harsh way, I can compete as an independent candidate and still support Umno. When Barisan Nasional (faced a ‘majority tsunami’, I still won convincingly,” he told reporters at the Eastin Hotel here, referring to the Pasir Salak seat.
Tajuddin won by a 7,712-vote majority against Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia candidate in 2018.
He has been incumbent since first contesting Pasir Salak in MP, replacing Tan Sri Ramli Ngah Taib.
On June 24, Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan said that Tajuddin was sacked so that the latter can focus on his new responsibility as the new Malaysian ambassador to Indonesia.
Ahmad Maslan added that going into the upcoming general election as a supreme council member requires full focus and he claimed that the move was to ease Tajuddin’s responsibility.
In response, Tajuddin said today the same logic can be used against party president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi — saying the latter should step down from leading Umno to focus on his court cases.
Tajuddin was named the ambassador to Indonesia by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s government, but has yet to receive his credentials from Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah.
The decision to make the controversial MP the nation’s ambassador to Indonesia was greeted with criticism by members of Umno, MPs, former diplomats and the general public.
However, Ismail Sabri previously defended the decision by saying that Tajuddin is "a seasoned and experienced politician".
The controversial MP made headlines for the wrong reasons several times in his political career, and was removed in May last year as the non-executive chairman of Prasarana Malaysia Bhd after he made fun of a LRT crash.
