Malay voters and Umno grassroots members in Kajang want an Umno candidate to be placed there to challenge opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim for the Kajang by-election, the party’s Hulu Langat division chief Johan Abdul Aziz said today.

He said that the request was made based on discussions with grassroots, following MCA’s failure to retain Chinese support during the 2008 and 2013 general elections.

According to him, district voting centres 1 to 5 in the state constituency had “never been won” in the past two elections, even though the seat was previously a BN stronghold.

“BN has won two or three times there. But that voting district has not been won since 2008 and 2013, even though it is a MCA stronghold. They (MCA) have not drawn an action plan to win these places,” he said when contacted by Malaysiakini this morning.

“The grassroots in Umno are asking - why not give the seat to us? We can increase the Malay vote there,” he said.

He said that BN’s win in the seat prior to the 2008 elections were due to Malay support.

“If MCA want the seat, they need to produce a strategic plan to win back Chinese votes,” he said.

The constituency has 38,965 votes, comprising 48 percent Malays, 41 percent Chinese, and 10 percent Indian voters.

However, Johan said that the top BN leadership will decide on the candidate that the call to place an Umno candidate was only a “request and not a move to pressure”.

He said that Umno had “tolerated” in the past that the seat belonged to MCA but the “Chinese did not care.”

He also said that the decision by PKR to vacate the seat was a “betrayal” by the party towards voters in Kajang.