MCA wants Kuantan back

What has been borrowed must be returned, says Liow

KUANTAN: MCA will not let go of the opportunity to contest the Kuantan parliamentary seat in the coming general election, says its president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.

“This is too important. What has been borrowed must be returned.

“I strongly believe MCA can represent Kuantan. Umno has other constituencies they can contest such as Indera Mahkota,” he said at a dialogue session with Chinese NGOs here yesterday.

Kuantan Umno division chief Datuk Seri Wan Adnan Wan Mamat said that the understanding was for Kuantan to be returned to be contested by MCA because the seat was once represented by the party from 2004 to 2008.

However, Wan Adnan said this was not quite accurate because it was MCA which had been given the seat by Umno in the first place.

In the last election, Kuantan was contested by Umno’s Datuk Mohamed Suffian Awang who lost to PKR’s Fuziah Salleh by a 4,515vote majority.

Liow said he was expressing the wish of the Kuantan people when defending the right of MCA to contest the parliamentary seat.

“MCA wants this seat. We won this seat before. We have good candidates and a good team.

“We want to work with the component parties to serve the people and win this seat for Barisan Nasional,” he said.

On the decision to recommend Datuk Wong Nai Chee as the candidate for the Alor Gajah parliamentary seat rather than incumbent Datuk Koh Nai Kwong, who would now be fielded for the Machap state seat, Liow explained this was a move to win both seats.

Liow said nonetheless, he would go down to meet with party members who were dissatisfied with the decision.

“Issues of election candidacy are discussed internally,” he said.

We want to work with the component parties to serve the people and win this seat for Barisan Nasional. Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai