MCA may have to 'cede' four seats to Umno

GE 14 | BN's allocation of parliamentary seats for MCA could potentially be reduced to 36, down from a peak of 40 in 2008, in the wake of intense lobbying by aspiring Umno candidates.

In 2013, MCA had "loaned" three seats – Kuantan, Gelang Patah and Wangsa Maju – to Umno, on grounds that the latter stood a better chance.

Although Gelang Patah does not appear to be in contention, checks with Kuantan and Wangsa Maju Umno leaders indicated that status quo for their two areas was a near certainty.

However, efforts are also underway to pressure MCA into ceding the right to field candidates for Bandar Tun Razak and Lumut to Umno, for a variety of reasons.

All four are mixed-ethnicity seats with a Malay-majority. They were all won by PKR candidates in 2013.

Talk of Umno taking over seats traditionally set aside for MCA has been rife over the past few years, following MCA's dismal performance in 2013.

At the time, MCA won only seven parliamentary seats – down from a record of 31 in 2004 – of which only one seat, Labis, did not have a Malay majority.

'Kuantan was Umno's all along'

Responding to queries via text messages, Wangsa Maju Umno division chief Mohd Shafei Abdullah said his party still keen on fielding a candidate there.

In 2013, Shafei, who was formerly political secretary to the finance minister Najib Abdul Razak, was BN's Wangsa Maju candidate.

He was defeated by PKR's Dr Tan Kee Kwong with a thin majority.

Should Umno get another crack at Wangsa Maju, it is understood that Shafei will be Umno's candidate yet again.

For Kuantan, division Umno chief Wan Adnan Wan Mamat said the seat was meant for Umno all along, and there was no question of MCA "loaning" the seat to Umno the last time around.

"Kuantan was Umno's seat since Independence. We loaned it to MCA in 2004 and 2008. It was returned to us in 2013.

"In 2013, BN secured only 1,480 Chinese votes out of 18,000, while 21,800 Malays out of 47,700 Malay voters backed us.

"So who is more qualified? A Malay or Chinese candidate?" asked Wan Adnan when contacted.

'MCA will sink in Lumut'

He said Umno has been working the ground for five years since 2013 and it was, therefore, unfair for MCA to make demands now without putting in the work.

"Do they want it because they think it belongs to them or is it because they think they can win?" he asked, while pointing out that Malay voters now make up 68 percent in Kuantan, up from 63 percent in 2013.

Moreover, Wan Adnan said BN's battle for Kuantan will be with two Malay candidates from PKR and PAS respectively. He stressed that the division will respect whatever decision made by Najib, who is the BN chairperson.

A Lumut Umno division office bearer, who requested anonymity, told Malaysiakini that his division was gearing up to field a candidate there, on grounds that Malay voters now make up 70 percent of the electorate, up from 51 percent previously.

"Even an MCA leader confided with us that his party will not stand a chance in winning Lumut," he said.

Lumut has seen an MCA representative since the seat was created in 1974.

It was considered a BN fortress until it was breached by retired navy first admiral Mohamad Imran Abd Hamid, a PKR novice, in 2013.

There is talk that BN plans to field Perak Menteri Besar Zambry Abdul Kadir, a relatively controversy-free technocrat, for Lumut.

Will Najib succumb?

As for Bandar Tun Razak, Umno division chief Rizalman Mokhtar had urged MCA to sacrifice their claim for the seat and make way for Umno for the sake of a BN victory.

While it is not entirely clear if Umno will be fielding a candidate in Bandar Tun Razak, Rizalman's faction has been lobbying intensely for the seat, and is much more visible than the supposed MCA candidate Chew Yin Keen.

When Umno vice-president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi attended a Bandar Tun Razak BN event on March 12, he had heraldedRizalman as a "hero" while not acknowledging Chew as the coalition's candidate.

Some Umno leaders, however, believe that such lobbying efforts may not compel Najib to compromise BN's long-held practice of consensus and power-sharing.

Umno supreme council member Nazri Abdul Aziz told Malaysiakini that if Umno wanted to field a candidate in seats traditionally given to MCA, there must be a form of swapping.

"This is something we agreed upon many years ago. So, this must be done via seat swap and with MCA's consent. Otherwise, no go," he said.

MCA president Liow Tiong Lai, deputy president Wee Ka Siong and Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor did not respond to requests for comments for this story. -Mkini