Guan Eng promises Nga minister's post if he wins Teluk Intan

GE14 | Perak DAP chief Nga Kor Ming has been named as Pakatan Harapan’s candidate for the Teluk Intan
parliamentary seat, setting the stage for a potential showdown with Gerakan president Mah Siew Keong. 

The announcement was made by Penang caretaker chief minister and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng in Bandar Baru Teluk Intan tonight.

Lim said if Nga wins and Pakatan takes over power in Putrajaya, he will be appointed a federal minister.

“To win Putrajaya, we have to win in as many parliamentary seats as we can, including in those where the MP is a senior minister. In Teluk Intan, the MP is a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.

“Although this minister is useless, he is still a minister. So to defeat him, we must field a capable leader. We must field a candidate whom we DAP can nominate and appoint as a minister in a Harapan government,” Lim said in his announcement that was attended by thousands of people.

He said as a minister, he can guarantee that Nga would bring more changes than Mah could to Teluk Intan.

He claimed that Mah’s contribution to the local Chinese independent high school is not in public knowledge because the amount is too small, and Nga will contribute several times more to the school than Mah, if elected.

Nga, meanwhile, told the audience that contesting in Teluk Intan will be a challenge because he is a mere rubber tapper’s grandchild and the son of a primary school teacher.

In contrast, he said Mah holds a Datukship as well as being the “richest man in Teluk Intan”.

Nevertheless, Nga said power is the people’s hands, and May 9 will be the time for the people to show their power.

Nga is the incumbent Taiping MP and has held the seat since the 2008 general election.

The Teluk Intan seat has changed hands between BN and DAP several times in the past until it was taken in 1999 by Mah, who held it until DAP retook the seat nine years later in the 2008 polls.

Mah continued to contest for Teluk Intan in the years since, finally retaking it by besting DAP’s Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud by a slim majority of 238 votes during the 2014 by-election that was triggered by the then incumbent Seah Leong Peng’s (DAP) death.

Mah’s candidacy in Teluk Intan for the 14th general election has not been made official, but the Teluk Intan native is expected to defend his seat again.

He had previously pledged to resign as Gerakan president if he loses the seat, according to a report by The Star in October last year.

Also anticipated to join the fray is Ibrahim Mat Zin, who is better known as the once self-styled Raja Bomoh (Shaman King) and his “rituals” following the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 that
included a “magic carpet” and coconuts.

According to a report by Berita Harian today, Ibrahim is expected to announce his candidacy for the Teluk Intan parliamentary seat and the Manjoi state seat tomorrow. - Mkini