Jui Meng tipped to stand in Segamat

The Johor PKR chief is expected to contest in Segamat as the party intends to pit him against a BN heavyweight.

PETALING JAYA: Johor PKR chairman Chua Jui Meng looked set to contest in Segamat parliamentary seat against MIC deputy president Dr S Subramaniam, after DAP’s Lim Kit Siang was made the Pakatan Rakyat candidate in Gelang Patah.

Chua was originally picked to contest in Gelang Patah.

Johor PKR election director Steven Choong told FMT that a seat swap has been decided where PKR would contest in Segamat – a traditional DAP’s seat – in return for Lim to contest in PKR’s Gelang Patah.

He said although Chua would be given options to stand in any PKR seat as a state leader, it was more likely he would try a seat with substantial Chinese voters, which are in Segamat, Ledang, Pasir Gudang and Tebrau.

Nanyang Siang Pau yesterday quoted PKR sources as saying the party intends to field Chua in a strategic seat against a Barisan Nasional heavyweight.

If that is the case, then it appears that Chua would be pitted against MIC’s number two – Subramaniam – in Segamat.

In the 2008 general election, Subramaniam defeated DAP’s Pang Hok Liong with 2,991-majority votes, polling 15,921 votes cast.

The seat comprises 47% Chinese, 43% Malay and 10% Indian.

It was reported that the Pakatan leadership council would decide on the matter (the fielding of Chua in Segamat) on March 25.

Besides Segamat, other BN heavyweight seats, such as Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s Pagoh, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein’s Sembrong, Deputy Education Minister Wee Ka Siong’s Ayer Hitam, were traditionally contested by either DAP or PAS.

When asked about the possibility of Chua contesting in the Bakri seat, his former stronghold in MCA’s days, Choong dismissed the rumour.

He said that PKR could not demand the Bakri seat because incumbent Er Teck Hwa had won it for the DAP in 2008.

“In Pakatan, seat negotiations are based on three principles: a seat won by one party cannot be given to another coalition party; an incumbent party will be allowed to stand in the seats it had contested; and a party can ask for certain seats not won by the other party provided there are good reasons,” he said.

“Hence, based on the first principle, we cannot be asking for Bakri seat at all,” he said.

The re-arrangement of seats follows Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim’s announcement on Monday that Lim would move down south to contest in Gelang Patah, giving up his Ipoh Timur seat.

Johor DAP chief Boo Cheng Hau and Chua have been crossing swords over Gelang Patah, and the row recently escalated into an open warfare when Boo accused Chua of sabotaging DAP.

Choong said Lim’s arrival at Gelang Patah has effectively ended the Chua-Boo feud.

“Their quarrels were caused by the tussle over the seat. Now there should be no more quarrelling,” he said.

However, Choong expected Chua to take time to accept the decision because he has been serving the Gelang Patah constituents since last year.

“In the last few months, he has spent half of his time working in the constituency of more than 30,000 voters,” he said.

Choong, nevertheless, said the decision would not affect the good ties between Pakatan component parties.

Pakatan has intensified its assaults on Johor, a BN bastion, by fielding national leaders there in a bid to win more seats in the coming polls.

Besides Lim, PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayub and DAP central executive committee member Liew Chin Tong have also confirmed that they would be contesting in the state.

Meanwhile, Anwar is expected to announce tonight that Johor Baru division chairwoman Tan Poh Lai will be the candidate for the Johor Baru parliamentary seat.

Tan’s deputy Mohd Salleh Ahmad is also expected to be the candidate for the Tanjong Puteri state seat while lawyer Jimmy Puah may be picked to stand in the Stulang state seat.