Free Malaysia Today, 5 February 2014
A candidate from MCA may not be the best of choice for the Kajang by-election.
KAJANG: Umno should field a candidate in the Kajang by-election, said an Umno leader today.
The Sungai Kantan Umno branch chief Mohd Said Mat Saman said this was
based on grassroots’ sentiments as well as MCA’s inability to gain
Chinese votes.
“There are many calls for Umno to contest in Kajang. There are local
candidates here. Some have been party members for over 30 years but do
not hold party positions.
“Just look at the GE13 results. MCA candidate Lee Ban Seng only won
in four areas. The four are Sungai Kantan, Taman Mesra, Sungai Sekamat
and 10th Mile Jalan Cheras,” said Mohd Said who has been Sungai Kantan
Umno branch chief for two decades.
Nevertheless, it must be noted here that Kajang has always been contested by MCA.
Mohd Said said that MCA can’t field its previous candidate, Lee Ban
Seng who is also the Hulu Langat division chief since he was unable to
win previously.
“It is like a beauty pageant contest. The winner this year would lose
the next year because there are many more better contestants,” he said.
Yesterday BN deputy chairman Muhyiddin Yassin said that the final
decision on the coalition’s candidate for the Kajang by-election would
be decided by BN’s chairman, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.
“We cannot make any decision until we have discussed the matter with
MCA’s president and other leaders. Ultimately it is up to the BN
chairman to choose the right man for the job,” he said.
Liow should contest
If Umno is not given the seat, Mohd Said said that MCA should
consider fielding its state chief Liow Tiong Lai who is also the party
president as BN’s candidate for Kajang.
“Let’s have Liow as the candidate for Kajang. Only then, MCA can
gauge whether they still have the support from the Chinese,” he
explained.
He however said that Umno’s grassroots members will still back the BN
candidate regardless whether the candidate is from MCA or Umno.
.
This is not the first time a call is made for Liow to contest the
seat. Former MCA chief Ong Tee Keat had first called upon Liow to
contest the Kajang seat on Jan 30.
“I call on the Kajang by-election committee chairman Wee Ka Siong to
nominate Liow Tiong Lai to be the MCA and BN candidate for Kajang.
“As PKR is fielding the national opposition leader, perhaps only
someone of Liow’s stature would have the desired parity to take on Anwar
Ibrahim, the former deputy prime minister,” said Ong.
Polls on March 23
Polls on March 23
The Kajang state seat fell vacant following the resignation of incumbent assemblyman Lee Chin Cheh of PKR on Jan 27.
The state seat comprises 38,965 registered voters. At the last
general election in May, 2013, the seat saw a voter turnout of 87.9%
with 541 spoilt votes. It has 48% Malay voters, Chinese 41%, Indian 10%
and others 1%.
PKR’s Lee garnered 19,571 votes with a 6824 majority. BN-MCA’s Lee
Ban Seng received 12,747 votes and Mohamad Ismail (Berjasa) 1,014 votes.
The three independent candidates who contested the seat were Mohd
Iwan Jefrey Abdul Majib (249 votes), Ong Yan Foo (85 votes) and Mohd
Khalid Kassim (83 votes).
With the exception of the two Lees, the rest of the candidates lost their election deposits.
To date only Anwar Ibrahim has declared his candidacy for the by-election.
The by-election will not have a bearing on who runs the state as
Pakatan Rakyat has 44 seats in the 56-seat Selangor state assembly. The
remainder 12 seats are held by BN.
The Election Commission today announced that the by-election would be held on March 23, with polling to take place on March 11.
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