SUNGAI BULOH (Nov 8): Selangor Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Tan Sri Noh Omar has set a target of winning seven parliamentary seats in Selangor for his coalition in the 15th general election (GE15). The target includes the Sungai Buloh seat that three-term Rembau Member of Parliament (MP) Khairy Jamaluddin is contesting.

Noh said on Tuesday (Nov 8) that BN has also fielded caretaker Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz in Kuala Selangor, the neighbouring constituency of Sungai Buloh, because Zafrul and Khairy are "BN's icons", and to help BN rise again in the state.

Noh refused to name the other six parliamentary seats in Selangor that BN expects to win in GE15.

BN won two parliamentary seats in Selangor in GE14, namely Noh's incumbent seat of Tanjong Karang and Sabak Bernam. BN clinched the two seats with majority of 1,674 for Tanjong Karang and 1,970 for Sabak Bernam.

Incumbent Sabak Bernam MP Datuk Mohd Fasiah Mohd Fakeh has since defected to Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia of the Perikatan Nasional coalition, leaving Noh as the sole BN representative.

In GE14, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition won Selangor's remaining 20 parliamentary seats.

"I want to thank Khairy for his willingness to come here (Sungai Buloh). I, as BN chief of Selangor, want to revive BN in Selangor, but I alone cannot afford to raise a movement in Selangor," Noh told the press.

The caretaker entrepreneur development and cooperatives minister, together with caretaker Communications and Multimedia Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa, accompanied caretaker Health Minister Khairy for a morning walkabout in Central Mart Saujana Utama on Tuesday.

"Besides Khairy, there is Senator Tengku Zafrul [contesting] in Kuala Selangor... these two young figures are capable of making changes in Selangor at the federal level. We hope the people in Selangor take Khairy and Zafrul as our icons to rise again in Selangor," Noh said.

Khairy, in turn, said that the people in Selangor deserve an alternative voice even though it remains a tough state for BN.

"We can't give PH a free ride here. There are real problems from basic amenities, basic infrastructure to more structural issues of employment and young people not having opportunities," Khairy said.

"Selangor will remain a PH state after Nov 19 because the state has not dissolved [its assembly], so you should have a good number of MPs from BN, if at the very least to function as [checks and balances] against the Selangor state government," he added.

Khairy said he will release his personal manifesto for Sungai Buloh on Friday (Nov 11).

The incumbent Sungai Buloh MP is PH's Sivarasa Rasiah, who won with a majority of 26,634 votes in GE14 in a four-cornered fight. However, Sivarasa is not contesting the seat in GE15.

In GE15, Khairy is facing six other candidates for the Sungai Buloh seats. His opponents are Datuk R Ramanan of PH, Mohd Akmal Mohd Yusoff (Pejuang), Mohd Ghazali Md Hamin (PN), Ahmad Jufliz Faiza (Parti Rakyat Malaysia), as well as independent candidates, Syed Abdul Razak Syed Long Alsagoff and Nurhaslinda Basri.

The Election Commission said as of Oct 9, Sungai Buloh had a total of 158,090 voters with 42,613 in the 21-to-29 age bracket.

Get our comprehensive GE15 coverage here.