SLIM RIVER: Former Behrang State Assemblyman Datuk Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi will contest as an independent for the Tanjung Malim Parliament seat in the 15th General Election (GE15).
He said he decided to return to the political field after nine years of moving solo with no political backing, as he wanted to serve the people in the parliament constituency.
Jamaluddin said the move was not made in a rush nor orchestrated by any quarter, but due to the will of the people and comrades-in-arms who are still loyal to him.
"Every time I meet people in public, they tell me to go back to politics and run in the elections. This prompted me to answer their and return to politics.
"When the people like us, it is a loss for me not to take up such an opportunity. This was especially when no party has two-thirds to rule the country," he said.
He told this to reporters after officiating the Tanjung Malim Parliamentary P077 Independent Candidate Office at Taman Slim Mutiara, near here.
Jamaluddin claimed that he still has firm support in the Behrang State Assembly because among the three state seats in the Tanjung Malim parliament seat, Behrang has the highest number of voters.
The other two state seats in the Tanjung Malim Parliament constituency are the Slim and Sungkai state seats.
"If I am strong in the Behrang state constituency and get 50 per cent voter backing in the Slim state constituency and 10 per cent in the Sungkai state constituency, it means there is a possibility that I can win in GE15.
"It is a great loss if my political experience is not expanded to involve the whole Parliament seat, when before this, the people in Slim and Sungkai only heard how I served the voters," he said.
He said if the people in Slim and Sungkai state seat give him an opportunity in GE15, then they will also enjoy the services enjoyed by his constituents in Behrang.
Jamaluddin was in the limelight in 2009 when, along with Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu, resigned from PKR. The duo chose to sit as independents together with Hee Yit Foong and backed the Barisan Nasional. This led to the fall of the Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin-led government, precipitating the 2009 Perak Constitutional crisis.