Lau 'missing' from PN's candidate announcement

 

Perikatan Nasional has announced 39 candidates to contest in Penang tonight, leaving one conspicuous omission - the Bayan Lepas seat said to be coveted by Gerakan president Dominic Lau.

This came after local PAS members threatened to boycott him earlier today, should he contest that seat.

During the candidate announcement at Pongsu Seribu, Kepala Batas, there was no mention of who would be fielded in Bayan Lepas, nor was Lau (above) named as a candidate for any other seat.

This was despite Lau having expressed his desire to contest in Penang and was present to give a speech at the event.

Interestingly, while Lau's name was not announced during the event, his name does appear as the Bayan Lepas nominee in PN's Penang candidate list published on Facebook and in the media copy.

Meanwhile, Penang Gerakan chief Oh Tong Keong is making another bid for the Pantai Jerejak seat.

Penang Gerakan chief Oh Tong Keong

In 2018 he received just 17.3 percent of the votes in the seat and was quashed by PKR's Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

However, his level of support grew significantly in the 15th general election (GE15), when he bagged 22.6 percent of votes when contesting for the Bayan Baru Parliament seat - which Pantai Jerejak is under.

Overall, their party Gerakan is contesting the lion’s share of 18 out of 40 seats in Penang, not including Bayan Lepas. However, many of these seats are Chinese-majority seats that may prove challenging for the party.

This includes Kong Cheng Ann in Air Putih and H’ng Khoon Leng in Pengkalan Kota, where they will face off against DAP chairperson Lim Guan Eng and Penang caretaker chief minister Chow Kon Yeow respectively.

If Lau does end up submitting his name for the Bayan Lepas race on nomination day on Saturday, he would be the only Gerakan candidate contesting in a Malay-majority seat.

There, he is expected to face Amanah’s Azrul Mahathir Aziz.

Meanwhile, Bersatu is contesting a total of 11 seats including four candidates from its Affiliate Wing and PAS is contesting seven seats, including three candidates from its Non-Muslim Supporters’ Wing.

Penang PAS chief Muhammad Fauzi Yusoff is contesting the Sungai Dua seat against Umno’s Shaik Hussein Mydin.

His Bersatu counterpart Zulkefli Bakar is contesting in Penanti, facing PKR’s Rohsidi Hussain.

Below is the full list of PN candidates for Penang, as per the list circulated after the announcement.

N1 Penaga - Mohd Yusni Mat Piah (PAS)
N2 Bertam - Khaliq Mehtab Mohd Ishaq (Bersatu)
N3 Pinang Tunggal - Bukhori Ghazali (PAS)
N4 Permatang Berangan - Mohd Sobri Saleh (PAS)
N5 Sungai Dua - Muhammad Fauzi Yusoff (PAS)
N6 Telok Ayer Tawar - Azmi Alang (Bersatu)
N7 Sungai Puyu - Teow Chin Siang (PAS-Non-Muslim Supporters’ Wing)
N8 Bagan Jermal - Ong Chuan Jin (Bersatu-Affliate Wing)
N9 Bagan Dalam - Jayaraman K Kunchu Kannu (PAS-Non-Muslim Supporters’ Wing)
N10 Seberang Jaya - Izhar Shah Arif Shah (Bersatu)
N11 Permatang Pasir - Amir Hamzah Abdul Hashim @ Md Hashim (PAS)
N12 Penanti - Zulkefli Bakar (Bersatu)
N13 Berapit - Lee Kok Keong (Gerakan)
N14 Machang Bubok - Tan Hum Wei (Gerakan)
N15 Padang Lalang - Suresh Devaraj Naidu (Bersatu-Affiliate Wing)
N16 Perai - Sivasuntaram Rajalinggam (Gerakan)
N17 Bukit Tengah - Baljit Singh Jigiri Singh (Gerakan)
N18 Bukit Tambun - Tan Gia Wei (Gerakan)
N19 Jawi - Koh Tien Yew (PAS-Non-Muslim Supporters’ Wing)
N20 Sungai Bakap - Nor Zamri Latiff (PAS)
N21 Sungai Acheh - Zulkifli Ibrahim (Bersatu)
N22 Tanjong Bunga - Hng Chee Wey (Gerakan)
N23 Air Putih - Kong Cheng Ann (Gerakan)
N24 Kebun Bunga - Tan Zhen Zune (Gerakan)
N25 Pulau Tikus - Tang Ching Sern (Gerakan)
N26 Padang Kota - H'ng Khoon Leng (Gerakan)
N27 Pengkalan Kota - Suthakaran Subramaniam (Gerakan)
N28 Komtar - Cheah Kim Huat (Bersatu-Affiliate Wing)
N29 Datok Keramat - Heng See Lin (Gerakan)
N30 Sungai Pinang - Ng Fook On (Gerakan)
N31 Batu Lancang - Mohd Aswaad Jaafar (Gerakan)
N32 Seri Delima - Mohan Apparoo (Bersatu-Affiliate Wing)
N33 Air Itam - Cheang Chee Gooi (Gerakan)
N34 Paya Terubong - Ooi Ghee Oon (Gerakan)
N35 Batu Uban - Mok Kok On (Gerakan)
N36 Pantai Jerejak - Oh Tong Keong (Gerakan)
N37 Batu Maung - Azahari Aris (Bersatu)
N38 Bayan Lepas - Dominic Lau Hoe Chai (Gerakan)
N39 Pulau Betong - Mohamad Shukor Zakariah (PAS)
N40 Telok Bahang - Muhamad Kasim (Bersatu)

- Mkini