KUALA LUMPUR — Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz says he is ready to contest the Pandan parliamentary seat in the 16th general election for PKR if he is chosen.
The senior political adviser to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said he was not overly concerned about facing the two-term incumbent, Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli, and preferred to focus on working hard among the grassroots instead.
“I may be facing a political giant if he (Rafizi) choses to defend the seat. However, it is more important that I focus on doing work and serving the constituency, whether it is Pandan or Ampang or any seat that I am assigned to,” Zafrul said as quoted by Berita Harian at a Hari Raya Korban event in Pandan today.
Zafrul was recently made PKR’s monitoring officer for the Pandan constituency after Rafizi vacated the federal seat as its MP last week. Rafizi and former Setiawangsa MP Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, both ex-PKR leaders, have left the PKR for a new political outfit, Parti Bersama Malaysia.
Zafrul, who was formerly investment, trade and industry minister, left Umno in May last year and joined PKR last July, registering with the Ampang division. At the time, this sparked speculation that he would contest there.
Zafrul has also been made exco member of PKR’s political bureau.
He said today that the Pandan PKR Youth would not need to hold an extraordinary general meeting, as claimed by some, following the resignation of 20 of its committee members in the wake of Rafizi’s move to vacate the seat.
Zafrul said the Pandan youth chapter need not dissolve, and it was up to the PKR youth wing to decide if elections should be held for new committee members. – May 27, 2025