Bandar Tun Razak still an MCA seat for now, says Wee

GE14 | MCA is still preparing to field a candidate for the Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary seat, despite reports that Umno Wanita chief Shahrizat Abdul Jalil will be BN's candidate there.

According to MCA deputy president Wee Ka Siong, Bandar Tun Razak was still an MCA seat, at least for now.

"As it is now, yes (we will field a candidate)," Wee said when met in Yong Peng, Johor today.

On speculation that Shahrizat would be fielded instead of someone from MCA, Wee dismissed such talk as rumours.

"I've been hearing (speculation) of five different (BN) candidates for Bandar Tun Razak, this month alone.

"Who do you want me to believe? Don't worry. It is our constituency. We will defend it," he said.

Meanwhile, asked if MCA would surrender Bandar Tun Razak to Umno, the local MCA division chief and prospective MCA candidate, Chew Yin Keen, replied with a flat "no".

Earlier today, several Umno sources told Malaysiakini that BN was poised to announce Shahrizat as the candidate for Bandar Tun Razak.

In recent years, Bandar Tun Razak BN division head Rizalman Mokhtar has lobbied intensively to top BN leaders to allocate the seat to Umno, instead of MCA.

Rizalman argued Umno was a better fit for a Malay-majority seat, which MCA had lost during the last two elections, and he, therefore, urged MCA to step aside for BN's greater good.

Local Umno leaders have been lobbying coalition bosses to pressure MCA to make way for an Umno candidate in Lumut, Kuantan, Wangsa Maju, Bandar Tun Razak and most recently, Tebrau. - Mkini