KUANTAN - Datuk Mohd Nizar Najib, the eldest son of former Malaysian premier Najib Razak, will run for election for the first time in Malaysia’s upcoming polls.
The 44-year-old will not get to defend his father and grandfather’s legacy seat of Pekan in Pahang, but will contest for the Peramu Jaya state seat within the Pekan parliamentary constituency.
The incumbent Peramu Jaya state assemblyman Sheikh Mohamed Puzi Sheikh Ali will stand in the Pekan parliamentary ward instead.
Before the Umno-led Barisan Nasional coalition unveiled its line-up of candidates on Tuesday evening, many speculated that Mr Nizar would be fielded to defend his father’s Pekan seat.
But Pekan Umno deputy chief Zamri Ramly has said that Mr Nizar is too green for the job.
“Let him have a state seat first. He needs to learn,” Datuk Seri Zamri said. “If he shows that he can handle the job as a state assemblyman, then we will see about moving him up.”
Commenting on his candidacy on Wednesday, Mr Nizar said he could not simply rely on sympathy votes from his father’s supporters. Najib is disqualified from contesting after being convicted of graft in August.
“The people also want to see development and what kind of service that we can provide to the local community. We cannot just hope for sympathy votes,” said Mr Nizar, who is also Umno’s youth chief in Pekan.
“My father and my family have always served the people, especially the people of Pekan. I will continue this legacy to the best of my abilities,” he added.
Mr Nizar’s grandfather is Malaysia’s second prime minister, Tun Abdul Razak. Born in Pekan, the late Tun Razak won the Pekan parliamentary seat in 1959. When he died in 1976, his son Najib defended his seat until 1982 when he left to contest for the Bandar Pekan state seat. After winning the Bandar Pekan state seat, Najib served as Pahang’s chief minister for four years.
Najib returned to win the Pekan parliamentary seat in 1986 and had been helming it until he was jailed for money laundering, criminal breach of trust and abuse of power related to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal in August.
In the last general election in 2018, Najib retained Pekan despite widespread allegations of his involvement in the 1MDB scandal. He won with a majority of 24,859 votes, falling short of his target of 40,000-vote majority. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
