Pandan row shows MCA's subservience, says Rafizi

The row between the MCA leadership and the party's former president Ong Tee Keat over the BN candidate for the Pandan parliamentary seat showed that the BN components were subservient to Umno, said PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli.

Rafizi (right), PKR's candidate for the seat, said since Umno president Najib Abdul Razak took helm of BN, he had assumed absolute authority over the choice of candidates, as recently affirmed by both Tee Keat and his successor in MCA Dr Chua Soi Lek.

“BN that has previously purports itself to be a fair political consensus of many races is now no better than an Umno monopoly. Its component parties are no better than beggars. 

“This is why the candidacy of even component party presidents such as Chua has yet to be confirmed to date,” said Rafizi in a statement yesterday.

Previously at a Chinese New Year open house in Pandan, Chua announced that the party has nominated a lawyer, Gary Lim, as candidate for the parliamentary seat instead of the incumbent.

In reply, Tee Keat rebutted that the final decision, even for Chua’s own candidacy, lies with Najib and not Chua.

Meanwhile on the following day, Feb 22, Pandan MCA division’s youth chief Chong Sin Woon revealed that the party division hasnever discussed about its choice of candidate.

'Winnable and loyal'

Rafizi said the dispute between Chua and Tee Keat signalled the anxiety amongst MCA central leaders over their diminishing influence when it came to nominating candidates.

“Perhaps that is why Chua decided to send an early signal to Najib not to belittle BN component parties in front the electorate.

"When this dispute spills over into open conflict, then it is clear how Pandan’s electorate would judge their MCA candidate,” he speculated.

If Tee Keat turns out to be a candidate, Rafizi said, then it means that he is Najib and Umno’s favoured candidate. Otherwise, it meant Najib has bowed to MCA’s pressure to retain its prerogative to choose its candidates.

Rafizi also said that Najib is a dilemma because he not only has to choose ‘winnable candidates’ but also candidates who are loyal to him. This would enable him to survive a no-confidence vote in parliament even if he loses his own party’s support.

He said this is likely to happen because BN is unlikely to perform better than it did in the last general election, thus paving the way for Umno leaders to try and oust him just as they did with Najib’s predecessor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

'Six potential candidates'

Meanwhile, Pandan MCA division chief Ong Chien Huing reportedly clarified that the supposed dispute was only a ‘misunderstanding’ and admitted that he had neglected to inform the division’s executive council of constituency’s candidacy.

The Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily quoted him saying that four have been nominated as possible candidates via the division office including himself and Lim, whereas Tee Keat and another leader had bypassed this and applied directed via the party headquarters.

“In other words, the party central committee can consider any of these six as potential candidates, so there is nothing wrong with Chua saying that Lim is one the candidates recommended by the division,” he was quoted saying.

However, the declined to comment whether Chua’s public endorsement for Lim means that Tee Keat has been dropped as candidate.