KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 – The Kuantan parliamentary seat, which traditionally had been an MCA-held seat, will be contested by Umno in the general election this time and the Kota Laksamana state seat in Melaka by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP).
MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said the “loaning” of these seats was done in the spirit of Barisan Nasional (BN) to ensure the component parties would have a higher chance of winning. Dr Chua said this to reporters after chairing the party’s central committee meeting at Wisma MCA, here, today.
He also confirmed that MCA was allocated an additional seat, namely the Luyang state seat in Sabah, which was held by the incumbent Chia Chui Ket from the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP). Besides the exchange of the Tanah Rata state seat with the Ketari seat, Pahang belonged to Gerakan, he said, without revealing the MCA seats that would be given to Gerakan.
Dr Chua also said that MCA was still discussing about loaning the Tronoh or Jelapang sate seat in Perak to the MIC. On the parliamentary seats of Wangsa Maju in Kuala Lumpur and Gelang Patah in Johor, traditionally held by MCA which might be exchanged with Umno, he said this was still under discussion.
He denied media speculation that the Tebrau parliamentary seat in Johor and Padang Serai in Kedah had been given to another BN component party. Asked on the MCA candidate for the Pandan parliamentary seat, previously held by former party president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, he said the matter was still being discussed with BN chairman Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
The conflict over the Pandan seat came out in the open when Dr Chua recently announced that a new face, lawyer Gary Lim, would be contesting the seat to replace Ong. However, early this week, Ong was reported to have said that he was given the green light by Najib to defend the seat.
“As what was said by Datuk Seri Najib yesterday, the list of (BN) candidates including ours would be announced simultaneously early next week before the nomination day,” said Dr Chua.
BERNAMA
