Anwar: Delay in naming candidate insults MCA

KAJANG:  Barisan Nasional’s reluctance to finalise a MCA candidate for the Kajang by-election next month is an insult to the largest Chinese based party in the country, said PKR de-facto leader Anwar Ibrahim.

“Normally, they would announce their candidate fast. However this time around, even (Deputy Prime Minister) Muhyiddin Yassin says wait and see.  This is an insult to MCA,” he said.

Anwar, who will be the Pakatan Rakyat candidate for the seat, trained his guns at Umno whom he believed were worried if he was to helm Selangor.

“Even those who are asleep are now awake such as (former Finance Minister and Umno treasurer) Daim Zainuddin. They are afraid that if Anwar leads Selangor, then Umno is finished,” he said.

The Kajang state seat belongs to MCA under the BN’s seat sharing system. The party has insisted that this would not change despite Umno grassroot leaders saying that the seat should be contested by an Umno candidate to give Anwar a run for his money.

The Kajang seat fell vacant following the resignation of incumbent assemblymen Lee Chin Cheh of PKR on Jan 27. The Election Commission fixed March 23 for polling while nomination would be on March 11.

The state seat comprises 38,965 registered voters. At the last general election in May, 2013, the seat saw a voter turnout of 87.9% with 541 spoilt votes. It has 48% Malay voters, Chinese 41%, Indian 10% and others 1%.

In the 2013 general election PKR’s Lee garnered 19,571 votes to win the seat with a 6,824 majority. BN-MCA’s Lee Ban Seng received 12,747 votes and Mohamad Ismail (Berjasa) 1,014 votes.

The three independent candidates who contested the seat are Mohd Iwan Jefrey Abdul Majib (249 votes), Ong Yan Foo (85 votes) and Mohd Khalid Kassim (83 votes).

Aside from the two Lees, the rest of the candidates lost their election deposits.

To date, only Anwar, who is also the parliamentary opposition leader, has declared his candidacy. Anwar former tennis partner turned nemesis, S Nallakaruppan from the BN friendly Malaysian Indian United Party has offered to take on Anwar.

The by-election will not have a bearing on who runs the state as Pakatan Rakyat has 44 seats in the 56-seat Selangor state assembly. The remainder 12 seats are held by BN.

This is the third by-election since GE13 last year. The first by-election was held in Kuala Besut, Terengganu in July and the second, Sungai Limau, Kedah in November last year.  All three involved state seats.