SHAH ALAM - Incumbent Simpang Renggam MP Maszlee Malik says Pakatan Harapan (PH) should be ready to defend the seat regardless of which candidates they will face in the 15th General Election (GE15).
He said no official announcement has been made yet on whether he will be contesting to defend the seat on behalf of the party.
There was also no announcment made yet on who were the other candidates contesting in the Simpang Renggam seat.
Maszlee said this in response to speculations that he will be facing former Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Hasni Mohammad or Umno bigwig Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan in the GE15.
"Are you sure that they will be my opponents or the candidates for Barisan Nasional (BN)?.
"Because we have not heard the announcement by BN and I am not sure whether there has been any official statement by my own party about my candidacy.
"I just said that I was asked by the president (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) to defend the seat on behalf of PH.
"But if that does happen, then we should be ready,” he told Sinar Daily in the latest Politically Frank episode.
When asked about his vision if he had won the seat, he said he would be focusing on education since it was his strong suit, as well as the root of his political journey.
He said he felt that all Malaysians should receive equal access to education since it was their rights as the people of the country.
"My forte is education. Why I chose politics in the first place is to bring better access to education and to uplift the level of education for all Malaysians.
"Education is everybody’s right and responsibility,” the former education minister added.
On Oct 22, Hasni hinted the possibility that he would be fielded as a candidate outside of his parliamentary constituency for the coming election.
He said he will leave it to the top leadership to decide.
"Personally, having a chance to contest is good enough for me regardless which seat I contest in," he was reported to have said.