Zaid Ibrahim intends to contest in upcoming Kajang by-election

Former Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Mohd Zaid Ibrahim is set to make a comeback in the political arena.

Zaid announced on Friday that he intended to contest in the upcoming Kajang by-election.

Mohd Zaid, in his latest blog posting, said that contesting the seat would enable him to address numerous political and economic issues the country is currently facing.

"Writing in my blog (www.zaid.my) is fun but it would also be good to talk to real people face-to-face, listen to what they have to say and, of course, have satay with them.

"Talking to Kajang voters would also test the acceptability of some of my ideas, which in turn could be useful feedback for our policy-makers," he said in his blog entry entitled 'Mulling for Kajang' which was published on Friday.

Mohd Zaid said he had already outlined a few points that he would voice up during the campaigning period which were, among others, the importance of battling the roots of racial polarisation, the effort to preserve peace and solidarity between Muslims and Non-Muslims, as well as economic and educational programmes on building skills.

Mohd Zaid also said that he would seek explanation from Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim regarding PKR's decision to engineer the by-election, which some political observers view as wasteful.

"Of course I will ask Anwar Ibrahim to explain why he has engineered this by-election. What will he do with the reserves that Selangor has in his quest to bring glory to the state?" he wrote further.

Mohd Zaid was appointed as senator in March 2008 before joining the Cabinet but tendered his resignation six months later.

He was an Umno leader from 1984 until he was sacked from the party in Dec 2008, among others, due to allegedly attending opposition-held gatherings.

Then he joined Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) in 2009 and contested under a PKR ticket in the Hulu Selangor by-election in 2010 in which he was defeated by the then MIC information chief P. Kamalanathan by a margin of 1,725 votes.

Due to some internal conflicts, Mohd Zaid, the then Federal Territory PKR chairman left the party and later formed his own party called Kesejahteraan Insan Tanah Air (Kita) and became its president in Dec 2010.

Mohd Zaid, a prominent lawyer who owned one of the biggest law firms in southeast Asia, was not in the limelight since then and the party also lost all two parliamentary seats and 11 state seats it contested in the 2013 General Election.

Mohd Zaid did not stand in the last general election.

With Mohd Zaid's latest move, he is the third independent candidate to voice his intention to join the fray after Senator Datuk S Nallakarupan, who is also the president of the Malaysian Indian United Party, and Anwar's former legal assist Yuktes Vijay.

The Kajang state seat was vacated by Lee Chin Cheh of PKR on January 27.

The next day, Menteri Besar of Selangor Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said the party had decided to field Anwar as their candidate.

The Election Commission (EC) has fixed the nomination date on March 11 and polling on March 23.