New DAP faces for three state seats

GEORGE TOWN: DAP will field new faces in the Tanjung Bungah and Pulau Tikus seats on Penang island and Berapit on the mainland, said state party chairman Chow Kon Yeow.

“There will definitely be new faces in the three seats,” Chow told reporters after inspecting the completion of flood mitigation and drainage system upgrading works in Hilir Sungai Pinang here yesterday.

He declined to comment on the potential candidates and whether they were familiar faces.

But it is already heavily speculated that those to contest in Tanjung Bungah and Pulau Tikus are Penang Island City councillors Syerleena Abdul Rashid and Chris Lee who have been handling council matters in the Bukit Bendera parliamentary constituency.

Syerleena, who has been a councillor since 2015 and Lee who has been a councillor since 2013, said they would wait for an announcement from the party but nothing so far has been confirmed yet.

Ong Ah Teong, who is among the party’s longest serving city councillors since 2009, may be fielded in Pulau Tikus or elsewhere.

There is a vacancy in Tanjung Bungah following the announcement by assemblyman Teh Yee Cheu that he would quit DAP once Parliament is dissolved.

Pulau Tikus assemblyman Yap Soo Huey had said recently she would be leaving for the United States to study urban and transport planning at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Berapit assemblyman Lydia Ong Kok Fooi, a former state exco member, also announced that she would not contest again after serving two terms.

Asked when the party would announce its candidates list, Chow said it would only be done after the dissolution of Parliament.

He said the names of some candidates of Pakatan Harapan in Johor were announced before Barisan Nasional but it would not be the same for Penang.

“In Johor, it was done for strategic reasons.

“In Penang, there is no need to do so,” he said.