KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians have spoken loud and clear in the 15th General Election (GE15) when they voted out some of the previous members of parliament who were branded as "traitors" following the 2020 Sheraton Move.
After the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government two years ago, figures such as Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin, Datuk Seri Redzuan Yusof and Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu were labelled turncoats.
Back in 2020, these leaders, including others from PKR and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, left the ruling PH coalition to form a new government with Barisan Nasional (BN), the very party they previously called as their "sworn enemy".
Due to the Sheraton Move episode, the anti-party hopping law was introduced to stop lawmakers from jumping ship and causing the collapse of the government before Parliament reached its maturity period.
In Gombak, voters made it clear that the parliamentary constituency did not belong to Azmin despite the former international trade and industry minister previously expressing confidence of retaining the seat.
Azmin was defeated by none other than his former protégé, Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari, who scored 72,267 votes. Azmin received 59,538 votes.
Being a former senior minister and Selangor MB, Azmin's defeat was "unexpected" and "shocking" to him, according to sources in Perikatan Nasional (PN).
Although his journey as MP may have ended for now, Azmin still holds the Bukit Antarabangsa state seat which he first won in 2008.
"Azmin would probably be made senator if PN manages to form the next government," an insider said.
Zuraida, who is former plantation industries and commodities minister, has held the Ampang parliamentary seat since 2008 but lost the constituency yesterday to her former colleague.
Previously, Zuraida won the seat under PH's banner, thanks to her clout as the PKR Women chief back then.
Rodziah Ismail of PH won the Ampang seat with an overwhelming 29,681 vote majority while Zuraida trailing behind in fourth place with only 4,589 votes.
With this, a source in Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) said it can be safely assumed that Datuk Larry Sng "would not hand over the party presidency to Zuraida".
Former special functions minister Datuk Seri Redzuan Yusof from Bersatu, popularly known as the "flying car minister" also lost in this general election.
This time, the Alor Gajah parliamentary seat went to PH's Adly Zahari in a 890-vote majority win.
Redzuan was left in third place behind BN information chief Shahril Hamdan who secured 27,288 votes.
Faizal was the other Bersatu leader who was booted out of the Dewan Rakyat in GE15, losing the Tambun seat to PH chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Despite contesting the Tambun seat for the first time, Anwar managed to secure a 3,736-vote majority against Faizal who received 45,889 votes.
However, not all is lost for the main characters of the Sheraton Move as several of them have managed to retain their respective seats, with some gaining a strong majority.
PN chairman and former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin successfully defended his Pagoh seat with a majority of over 10,000 votes.
In Indera Mahkota, Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah won the constituency with a 8,399-vote majority despite predictions claiming he would be facing a tough fight against PH candidate Zuraidi Ismail.
PBM's Larry Sng also managed to retain his Julau seat with a majority of 1,340 votes in a four-cornered fight.
