Sivarasa given eleventh-hour axe after differing with Anwar over speech problem

Sungai Buloh incumbent R Sivarasa today revealed that PKR had maintained his name for candidacy in the constituency but removed it on the same day that the party unveiled its list of 72 parliamentary candidates for the Nov 19 polls.

Sivarasa, who is not seen as part of the faction that remained loyal to Anwar Ibrahim during the party's split in 2020, said he had explained to the party boss that he was fit to campaign to defend the constituency which he won in 2018.

He said Anwar had raised concerns over his problems with his vocal cords, for which he used the aid of a speech amplifier. 

"I had a differing view and explained how I would manage the campaign differently, taking into account the state of my voice," he said in a statement.

He said his name was retained for Sungai Buloh "right up to last Friday morning", on Oct 28.

"About 5pm that day, I received a text message from DSAI (Anwar) saying that after further discussions, he had decided that I would not be the candidate. 

"DSAI tried to call shortly before the text but I could not take the call then," he added.

PKR is fielding former MIC man Ramanan Ramakrishnan in Sungai Buloh. He will take on Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, who was sent there by Umno after being told to vacate his Rembau seat for his party deputy president Mohamad Hasan.

Sivarasa, who said he accepted the decision to remove him, added that Umno's decision to field Khairy had already been known to the party.

Party insiders told MalaysiaNow that they had been hoping for a battle of "two former Oxford scholars" in Sungai Buloh.

Khairy studied political philosophy at Oxford while Sivarasa studied law there under a Rhodes scholarship after getting his first degree at Universiti Malaya.

Since PKR announced Ramanan for Sungai Buloh, there has been pressure on its election director Rafizi Ramli to replace him with "a more suitable" name to take on Khairy.

During the 2020 party polls, Ramanan lost to Sivarasa for the post of Sungai Buloh division head.

"After all, Ramanan only joined PKR in 2020, while Sivarasa has loyally stayed with PKR for the past two decades," a PKR candidate who will be retaining his seat at the coming polls told MalaysiaNow.

On Wednesday, Rafizi said he would discuss with Anwar whether to name another candidate in Sungai Buloh.