Azmi Hassan of Akademi Nusantara said the announcement is a strong indicator that the finance minister will target the Kuala Selangor parliamentary seat for his electoral debut.
“It is a very clear indication. Not only is he, as a minister, giving special attention to Kuala Selangor, but the whole ministry itself is focusing on the district,” Azmi told FMT, adding that Tengku Zafrul had made a number of visits to the area.
He said that as an Umno candidate, Tengku Zafrul would fare well in Kuala Selangor as it is a Malay-majority area.
The finance minister has been rumoured to be seeking a parliamentary seat to contest, and there was speculation that he would do so in Kuala Selangor on an Umno ticket.
He is currently a member of the Cabinet after being appointed a senator.
There had been confusion as to whether Tengku Zafrul was an Umno member, but the party’s secretary-general Ahmad Maslan confirmed last month that Tengku Zafrul had been an Umno member even before he became a minister in 2020.
Azmi, however, thought it would be best for Tengku Zafrul to sit out GE15 altogether. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for him to contest because he was chosen to be finance minister as a technocrat and for his financial experience, not his political affiliations,” he said.
Tengku Zafrul was the CEO of CIMB Group Holdings Bhd when then prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin picked him for the finance portfolio. He was appointed a senator so that he could be a Cabinet member.
Azmi said that in the public’s eye, Tengku Zafrul had performed his tasks well by putting the wellbeing of the nation first and emphasising statistics and data.
“If he were to contest GE15, then he would have to ‘toe the line’ and be bound by the party’s ideologies, making it harder for him to stick to his principles,” he said.
He said the chances of Tengku Zafrul being reappointed as finance minister were “quite high” no matter the outcome of the general election.
James Chin of the University of Tasmania, on the other hand, believed that Tengku Zafrul’s reappointment as finance minister would be contingent on him contesting and winning a seat in GE15.
“If he doesn’t, then it is very unlikely that he will be reappointed as finance minister,” he told FMT.
Chin said that as an MP, Tengku Zafrul would be “harder to remove”. He said it was now obvious that Tengku Zafrul intended to pursue a “full on” political career after leaving the banking industry.
The Kuala Selangor seat is currently held by Dzulkefly Ahmad of Amanah, who has said he would not be contesting in the next election as he wants to give younger Amanah leaders a chance.
However, Dzulkefly, a two-term MP, said he would consider joining the fray if Umno nominates a heavyweight such as Tengku Zafrul.
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