Tee Keat: I’m still the BN candidate

Ong Tee Keat says the final say comes from the prime minister and not the MCA president.

PETALING JAYA: Pandan MP Ong Tee Keat has dismissed the possibility of contesting as an independent candidate in the next general election and insisted that he is still the Barisan Nasional candidate.

“The final decision lies in the hands of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, not [MCA president] Dr Chua Soi Lek. I am still BN’s candidate,” said the former MCA president.

Ong, a former transport minister, was responding to Chua’s announcement that the former was not the party’s candidate for the Pandan seat in the coming polls.

Speaking at the Pandan MCA Chinese New Year celebration last night, Chua, who had ousted Ong from the president’s post via an emergency general meeting, announced that MCA would be fielding a fresh candidate.

Chua reasoned that Ong, a five-term MP and MCA’s sole MP from Selangor, was dropped because the latter lost the support of his own division members.

The new MCA candidate for Pandan is 39-year old lawyer Gary Lim. Ong was absent from the event.

Chua also said that he would not stop Ong from contesting as an independent, adding that it would benefit BN because a three-cornered contest would split the votes in favour of the ruling coalition.

Retaliating, Ong said: “He [Chua] should know that each time he makes a statement like this, what is the ground feedback?”

“He has to bear with it, whether good or bad. He has to make his own decisions. He is older than me, I cannot be teaching him lessons,” he added.

Regardless of who would be BN’s candidate, they would be facing off with PKR’s strategy director Rafizi Ramli in the 13th general election.

Rafizi is not worried

Meanwhile, Rafizi said that he was observing the tussle between Umno and MCA in fielding the BN candidate in Pandan which he described as an “interesting drama”.

“MCA does not have much leverage against Umno. If Ong is nominated I am sure it is dictated by Umno. Chua’s announcement yesterday was meant to prevent Umno from deciding the candidate,” he added.

Rafizi said his campaign, however, was not focused on his opponent.

“My campaign is structured on two tiers because the Pandan electorate are urban voters. There two tiers are – national and local issues.

“On the first tier, my team is highlighting BN’s corruption records. On the second, our campaign is highlighting the security aspect in view of the rising crime rate,” he said.

In another development, it is learnt that Ong’s supporters will be holding a grand Chinese New Year function at the consituency this Sunday to show his popularity in the area. They are trying to get prime minister Najib to attend the event, ostensibly to show the premier’s support for Ong as the candidate for the seat.