‘ONE DAP LEADER EVEN CRIED WHEN PRESSURED TO TAKE ON TEE YONG IN LABIS’: VICIOUS RUMORS, INCLUDING TALK BOO CHENG HAU TO BE DROPPED, SWIRL AS GUAN ENG PREPARES TO NAME JOHOR CANDIDATES

PETALING JAYA: DAP’s Skudai assemblyman Dr Boo Cheng Hau’s political career is in jeopardy as speculation mounts that he is not on the Johor DAP candidate list.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng is expected to unveil the party’s candidates in Batu Pahat tonight (April 14).

It is learnt that Dr Boo had been given an ultimatum to contest in Labis or he would be dropped as the candidate for Skudai.

The ultimatum was made at a meeting between Lim, Johor DAP chairman Liew Chin Tong and Dr Boo on Thursday (April 12), sources said.

The sources said that Dr Boo is not keen because he is committed to serving the people of Skudai where he is a second term assemblyman.

He is also being made the scapegoat for Johor DAP’s inability to carry out its strategy of wiping out MCA in Johor, they alleged.

Unable to persuade any of its top leaders to contest in Labis against MCA vice-president Datuk Chua Tee Yong, the party leadership is trying to push Dr Boo out of Skudai and into Labis.

However, Dr Boo is not the only DAP figure who is unwilling contest in Labis.

Several other DAP leaders have also refused to take up the challenge, and one of them had even cried at a meeting when pressured into going to Labis, the sources told The Star.

Puchong MP Gobind Singh was one of those asked to consider the seat where Indians make up more than 15% of some 38,000 voters.

After spending a few days looking around the constituency, he decided that he was not suited for the seat and has decided to stay put in Selangor.

Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching has also refused to go although she had made a controversial statement asking the Chinese to help her party wipe out MCA.

Former Pandamaran assemblyman Ronnie Liu of Selangor is said to be willing to take a chance in Labis but the party does see him as a suitable choice.

The DAP’s inability to find a strong candidate for Labis is puzzling because incumbent Tee Yong, whose father is former MCA president Tan Sri Dr Chua Soi Lek, won by a majority of only 353 votes.

ANN