JOHOR BAHRU (April 23): Special Affairs Department (Jasa) director-general Datuk Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi was a surprise exclusion in Johor Barisan Nasional's election candidate list announced today, while a businessman linked to the Forest City project was among those named.

Puad, the Batu Pahat Umno divison chief, had been expected to be named as the candidate for the Batu Pahat parliamentary seat.

Datuk Mohd Othman Yusof, the Tanjung Piai Umno division head, is the candidate for the state seat of Kukup. Mohd Othman is the executive director of Country Garden Pacificview Sdn Bhd, the master developer of Forest City.

As speculated earlier, Menteri Besar Datuk Khaled Nordin will be contesting the parliament seat of Pasir Gudang besides defending the state seat of Permas.

Among Umno ministers, party vice president Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein will be defending the parliamentary seat of Sembrong, while Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said will be defending the Pengerang parliamentary seat.

Datuk Razali Ibrahim will seek to retain the Muar parliamentary seat for the fourth time. His opponent from Pakatan Harapan is Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia youth chief Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.

Tan Sri Shahrir Samad will be defending the Johor Bahru parliamentary seat against Akmal Nasir from PKR. Shahrir has been the parliamentarian for Johor Bahru since 1978, except for three terms between 1990 and 2004.

Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi will be defending Sri Gading. Datuk Ahmad Maslan will be defending the Pontian parliamentary seat

MIC president Datuk Seri Dr S Subramaniam will be defending the Segamat parliamentary seat.

MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong will be defending Ayer Hitam against Johor DAP chairman Liew Chin Tong while vice-president Datuk Chua Tee Yong will be defending Labis.

Trouble in Batu Pahat

Replacing Puad in Batu Pahat for BN will be the division's Wanita Umno chief Haliza Abdullah, a first-time candidate. When asked about her surprise candidacy, Haliza said she accepted the decision made by the party's central leadership.

"We will continue to work for the people in Batu Pahat and will do our best to win back the seat. I am still surprised by this candidacy, but we have to accept the party's decision and work together to bring victory to Barisan Nasional," she said.

Rumours of Puad not being considered as a candidate for Batu Pahat have been going around for quite some time. The rumours were confirmed last night when a text message, believed to have come from Puad himself, went viral last night.

In the text message, Puad was allegedly saying that he does not accept the central leadership's decision to drop him, adding that he will fight against the corrupt system in Umno in choosing candidates.

"I had had bad experiences twice when I was not nominated in 1999 and 2004 due to slanders within the party. But I still put Umno's fight and struggle first. But not for the third time.

"Enough is enough. I will no longer tolerate this corrupt system. I am like a discarded trash in Umno, with no one wanted to discuss and negotiate with me regarding the candidacy, even though I was elected for the supreme council position," he said.

The text message also stated that Puad will be contesting in both the Batu Pahat parliamentary seat and Senggarang state seat as an independent candidate. Besides Haliza from BN, the Batu Pahat seat will be contested by a candidate from PKR.

In the 2013 general election, PKR candidate Datuk Mohd Idris Jusi wrestled the seat from Puad with a majority of 1,732 votes. PKR has yet to announce its lineup for Johor for the upcoming general election.

Besides Batu Pahat, Tenggara and Kota Tinggi will also see a change of faces, with the Tenggara incumbent Datuk Halimah Sadique moved to stand in Kota Tinggi.

Halimah was among the few BN leaderships who secured increased majorities in 2013 compared with the 2008 election. Halimah's majority rose to 17,196 from 14,049 votes in 2008.

Named as the Tenggara BN candidate is Datuk Dr Adham Baba, the coalition's representative in 2004. In 2008 and 2013, Adham was moved to the Parit Raja state seat in Sri Gading.

Meanwhile, Adham's seat in Parit Raja will be defended by the sole candidate from Puteri Umno, Nor Rashidah Ramli.