‘Candidates to be decided day before nomination’
BENTONG: Just which Barisan Nasional component party will contest the Wangsa Maju and Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary seats will be decided only a day before nomination day.
MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said BN parties were discussing candidates for the two constituencies, which were traditionally MCA seats.
He said whatever the decision, it would be a matter of consensus.
He said the focus of the discussions was to select candidates who could wrest back the seats from the opposition, no matter which component party these candidates belong to.
“We discuss every seat, including those we ‘swap’ among component parties, in a spirit of friendship. It’s not something we highlight to the media.
“We will decide a day before nomination day. What is most important is that we (find candidates who will) win the seats,” Liow said after a meet-the-people session in Felda Sertik here.
In the previous general election, MCA allowed Umno to field a candidate for the Wangsa Maju seat despite it being a traditional battleground for the former. However, it is understood that MCA wants the seat back for the 14th General Election.
It is also understood that Umno wants to contest the Bandar Tun Razak seat as it is a Malay-majority constituency.
One of the names being bandied about to contest in Bandar Tun Razak is Tan Sri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, though the Wanita Umno chief has stayed clear of any such speculation.
Liow urged the people not to be taken in by the lies being peddled by the opposition about the East Coast Rail Line (ECRL) as the project would bring many benefits.
“This initiative has created job opportunities for residents, 14,000 in all. All of these are local people.
“So it is not true that ECRL is a project that does not look after the wellbeing of local people. These allegations (by the opposition) are malicious in nature.”