MCA denies giving up Jelapang to Hee

MCA president Chua Soi Lek has denied any agreement in BN to give the Jelapang seat to incumbent independent state representative Hee Yit Fong to contest under the ruling coalition’s banner.

“MCA would like to clarify that the party had not had any discussion with the prime minister about giving up the Jelapang state seat in Perak,” said Chua (right) in a statement today.

“The Jelapang MCA division and I had neither deliberated about allowing an outsider to stand in the seat under the MCA ticket,” he said.

He was responding to Hee’s statement yesterday that she would be recontesting the Perak seat “under the BN flag” and that BN chairperson Najib Abdul Razak would announce the details soon.

In 2008 Hee who had won the seat under DAP's ticket jumped ship and called herself BN-friendly to pave way for BN's controversial takeover of the Pakatan Perak government.

Chua said winning an election required the support of BN component parties, countering Hee’s claim that she could win on account of her constituents’ support.
 
“While Hee can announce that she is the candidate for Jelapang in the coming General Election, without the support from the MCA division and especially the grassroots members, it is unlikely that she will win in the election,” he said.

“I must stress that BN is a collective decision-making coalition, it is never a norm for the coalition to talk about its seat allocation and candidacy openly,” he added.