GE15: An end of Ku Li's era
ZAFIRA ANWAR
SHAH ALAM: Tonight's 15th General Election results had put an end to the country’s longest-serving MP, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, after he lost the Gua Musang seat.
The 85-year-old veteran politician, more popularly known as Ku Li, had served the constituency for close to 50 years and was seeking to serve Gua Musang for the 13th term only to lose against Pas Azizi Abu Naim by 163 votes.
In the 14the General Election (GE), he had won the seat with a majority of 3,913 votes against two others from Pas and PKR.
Earlier this month, Ku li had hinted that this year's general election would be his last hurrah in politics.
Ku Li had first contested in Gua Musang in 1974 when the area was still known as the Ulu Kelantan constituency.
He debuted in the 1969 GE where he contested and won the Ulu Kelantan Barat state seat.
The former Gua Musang MP, had founded Parti Semangat 46 in 1988 after a split in Umno where he challenged Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for Umno's top post the year before.
The new party then defeated Umno Baru, led by Mahathir, in several parliamentary and state by-elections. Semangat 46 was later disbanded and Ku Li rejoined Umno in 1996.
