Guan Eng, Penang DAP chief to contest parliamentary, state seats
GEORGE TOWN: Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and state DAP chairman Chow Kon Yeow will contest parliamentary and state seats in the 14th General Election (GE14).
Lim will defend his Bagan parliamentary seat and the Air Putih state seat.
Chow will defend his Padang Kota state seat and had been nominated to contest the Tanjong parliamentary seat, which he held from 1999 to 2013.
Chow yesterday announced DAP’s “I Love Penang” team, which featured eight new faces for state seats, while nine incumbents, including several party veterans, were dropped.
The late Karpal Singh’s sons, Jagdeep Singh Deo and Ramkarpal Singh, will defend their seats in Datuk Keramat (state) and Bukit Gelugor (parliamentary), respectively.
Chow’s candidacy was announced by Lim, who is DAP secretary-general.
DAP will contest seven parliamentary and 19 state seats in Penang. There are 13 parliamentary and 40 state seats in the state.
Among the notable names axed were two executive council members, Lim Hock Seng (Bagan Jermal) and Danny Law (Batu Lanchang), two assemblymen, Lau Keng Ee (Pengkalan Kota) and A. Thanasekaran (Bagan Dalam), and two members of parliament, Jeff Ooi (Jelutong) and Ng Wei Aik (Tanjong).
Three other incumbents had announced that they would not contest. They are former Tanjung Bungah assemblyman Teh Yee Cheu, who had left the party, Pulau Tikus assemblyman Yap Soo Huey and Berapit assemblyman Lydia Ong.
Among the new faces are M. Satees, a Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP) councillor, who will be fielded in Bagan Dalam; MPSP councillor H’ng Mooi Lye (Jawi); Penang Island City Council (MBPP) councillor Lee Chun Kit (Pulau Tikus); MBPP councillor Ong Ah Teong
(Batu Lanchang); MBPP councillor Syerleena Abdul Rashid (Seri Delima); and MBPP councillor Joseph Ng Soon Siang (Air Itam).
Others include Lim’s special officer, Heng Lee Lee, who will be fielded in Berapit, and special officer for Jagdeep, Gooi Zi Sen (Pengkalan Kota).
Lim said the decision to field Chow in both seats was part of a succession plan, as the latter had been announced as the former’s eventual successor.
Lim is facing a trial on corruption charges.
“Whether we like it or not, we will have to work with the Federal Government.
“And, with Chow at the helm, it will be easier,” he added, adding that it was a responsibility Chow had to shoulder.
He said that it was a decision made by a committee in the state committee, stressing that the move was necessary.
Asked if DAP’s move to axe party veterans and field new faces will backfire, Chow said in the 2013 general election, the party did not nominate all the state candidates.
Asked if DAP had run out of potential candidates as the same candidates were being fielded in parliamentary and state seats, Chow said even the party secretary-general had been serving two seats.
“In my case, the decision for me to contest Tanjong is the consideration by the secretary-general, as he had announced.”
When approached later, Law said he would explain the decision to the grassroots at an event next week.
Ooi, meanwhile, said he had pledged to serve only two terms.
“(The opposition pact’s) manifesto promises a maximum of two terms for the prime minister’s post. I want to walk the talk.”
Hock Seng said after being in politics for 44 years, it was time for him to take a back seat and rest.