The Malaysian Insight

MCA’S Wee Jeck Seng has ruled out the possibility of sabotage from local Umno members, saying that he has a cordial relationship with party’s Tg Piai division and its chief, Jefridin Atan.

Questions of sabotage were raised after the division proposed Jefridin as a candidate on behalf of Barisan Nasional, even suggesting that failure to name him would result in them staying out of voting.

Talking to the Chinese media, Wee said it is normal for Tg Piai Umno to want to have its leader nominated as the BN candidate.

However, he said the former ruling coalition has its standard operating procedures on candidate selection.

“I have a good relationship with him (Jefridin). He stands on the same stage as me, how is it possible that he would sabotage me?

“No matter what happens, BN goes by a consensus. The BN supreme council must decide the candidate. It was decided that I will run in the by-election and I don’t think Umno will sabotage me. I have no issues with them,” he said.

Wee, who served as Tg Piai MP from 2008 to 2018, said all residents in the constituency, regardless of their ethnicity, are like his relatives.

He said he will serve the voters to the best of his ability if he wins in the November 16 polls.

“This is the first time that Tg Piai will see a six-cornered fight since the seat was created. I will not comment on other candidates. I will do my job well,” he said.

Wee said although voters had decided to choose Pakatan Harapan in the 14th general election, he still stands a chance this time.

In GE14, Wee lost by a slim majority of 524 to PH’s Md Farid Md Rafik in a three-cornered fight.

The seat fell vacant following Farid’s death in September from heart complications.

Wee said he hopes to provide a check and balance to the PH government and represent the people’s voice in Parliament.

He said voters have lamented about the rising cost of living.

A majority of Tg Piai folk are fishermen and farmers, and some of the youth are working in Singapore.

When he was the MP for Tg Piai, Wee used to distribute rice and cooking oil to the 5,400 families in the constituency on a quarterly basis.

“For 10 years, I have made it a point to visit voters and distribute rice and cooking oil,” he said

He said such visits enabled him to be closer to the voters as it allows him to keep them posted on government policies and also to hear their needs and grouses.

“We need to care about the poor the most and even though the distribution of rice and cooking oil cannot solve the problem of the B40 group, I hope it can alleviate their burden a little.”

During his stint, Wee said he had worked on a 15-year education plan to equip schools in all constituencies with smart classrooms, to groom pupils so that one day they could further their studies to the tertiary level.

Wee said the initiative was expensive because it was done in partnership with private companies.

The rollout of the programme in 11 schools cost RM11 million. – November 5, 2019.