KUALA LUMPUR, April 16- Cameron Highlands may witness a tense election battle as DAP announced today that it will contest the seat against MIC president G Palanivel. Parti Sosialis Malaysia is also interested.
At a press conference today to introduce its Pahang candidate lineup, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said it is confirmed that a DAP candidate would do battle for the parliamentary seat. However, he said the candidate would only be announced later due to the person’s absence at the press conference. “Yes, we will be contesting,” he replied when asked if the decision is final.
Lim’s announcement set the stage for a potential three-cornered fight as PSM has requested for the seat to be contested by its local branch secretary B Suresh Kumar.
Palanivel was made the BN candidate for Cameron Highlands at the expense of incumbent SK Devamany, the MIC vice-president who held the seat for two terms since 2004. Devamany would now be moved to the Sungai Siput parliamentary constituency. Meanwhile, Lim also announced DAP’s candidates for the other two parliamentary seats and seven state seats:
Parliamentary seats:
1) Raub – Mohd Ariff Abdul Aziz
2) Bentong – Wong Tack
State seats:
1) Tanah Rata – Leong Ngah Ngah
2) Tras – Choong Siew Onn
3) Mentakab – Tengku Zulpuri Shah Raja Puji
4) Bulut – Chow Yu Hui
5) Ketari – Lee Chin Chen
6) Sabai – Kamache Doray Rajoo
7) Triang – Leong Yu Man
Lim said talks were ongoing for DAP to contest in two other state seats, but refused to name the seats. He said should the DAP candidates pin down MCA deputy president Liow Tiong Lai in Bentong and senior Pahang MCA member Ho Khai Mun in Raub, then Pakatan Rakyat would win federal power.
“Only if we win the seats, we would be able to take over Putrajaya,” he said. He also said Leong, who was previously announced as the Ketari candidate, has shifted to contest Tanah Rata due to the “latest developments”. Although Lim declined to elaborate, Leong’s move is widely seen to be in connection with MCA’s announcement last week that it would replace Pahang Gerakan chief Ng Keong Chye to contest the seat.
“My intention is to contest a grey seat. We felt that Lee can win in Ketari, that’s why I moved to an even tougher seat of Tanah Rata,” said Leong. Ng won the Ketari seat in 2008 with a slim 882 majority. Meanwhile, on the disgruntlement of Tengku Zulpuri’s supporters over Abdul Aziz’s candidacy in Raub, Lim said the matter has been resolved amicably. Tengku Zulpuri has said in a statement recently that he has agreed to the party arrangements.
