The Malaysian Insight

BARISAN Nasional leaders have agreed to field MCA’s Wee Jeck Seng for the Tanjung Piai parliamentary by-election, party sources said.

The consensus was reached during a meeting this afternoon between the leaders of Umno, MCA and MIC.

“The party leaders agreed during a discussion and there will be no supreme council meeting on the matter. The decision will be announced tomorrow,” said the source.

Sources did not say who will make the announcement, but it is expected to be done by Johor BN chief Hasni Mohamad.

Barring any independents, Wee, 55, is set for a three cornered fight with Pakatan Harapan candidate Karmaine Sardini and Gerakan’s Wendy Subramaniam.

The Tanjung Piai seat was declared vacant after Dr Md Farid Md Rafik died last month due to heart complications.

Wee was Tanjung Piai’s MP for two terms before losing to Dr Farid by 524 votes last year.

In 2013’s 13th general election, Wee won Tanjung Piai with a 5,457-vote majority.

Last year, PAS candidate Nordin Othman received 2,962 votes, while Wee got 20,731, for a total of 23,693, which would be about 2,000 more than Dr Farid.

This by-election will be the first since Umno and PAS signed a cooperation pact last month, and could test the widely held belief that the combined support bases of the two Malay parties could defeat PH.

PAS has announced it will not contest the seat.

Tanjung Piai has 52,986 registered voters, with 26,565 in the Kukup state constituency and 26,421 in Pekan Nenas. The racial breakdown of voters is  57% Malays, 42% Chinese and 1% Indian.

BN was to have announced its candidate on Monday at the launch of its machinery but cancelled it in the last minute.

Hasni said it was part of BN’s strategy to dupe PH, and pledging to offer a younger man compared to the 66-year-old Karmaine. Wee is 55 years old.

The last-minute cancellation triggered talk of infighting between Umno and MCA over the choice of candidate. 

Earlier today, MCA secretary-general Chong Sin Woon denied the parties were squabbling over the seat. – October 29, 2019.