Confirmed! MCA to do battle in tiger's den
Kow Kwan YeePublished: Apr 29, 2014 7:25 AM | Updated: Apr 29, 2014 9:00 AM
MCA will contest in the Bukit Gelugor by-election despite calls from various quarters for the party to steer clear of the May 25 contest.
MCA will contest in the Bukit Gelugor by-election despite calls from various quarters for the party to steer clear of the May 25 contest.
Party president Liow Tiong Lai announced today that MCA would submit its list of short-listed candidates to Prime Minister and BN chief Najib Abdul Razak soon.
The Bukit Gelugor parliamentary seat fell vacant following the death of its two-term incumbent Karpal Singh on April 17.
Following this, there were calls to MCA not to contest, with pundits predicting a bigger defeat for the BN component party this time around.
In the last general election, Karpal, known as the "Tiger of Jelutong", won the seat after defeating his MCA rival with a majority of more than 40,000 votes.
However, Liow dismissed such talk of MCA’s possible defeat as mere “rumours”.
At a press conference after chairing MCA’s presidential committee meeting today, he said the party’s Penang liaison committee has also submitted a list of candidates for consideration, but refused to reveal the list.
Asked when the candidate selected would be made known, Liow said there was no rush as DAP would only announce its candidate after May 5.
The Election Commission (EC) fixed May 12 as nomination day and May 25 as polling day for the country's fifth by-election after the 13th general election last year.
Pakatan must clear the air over hudud issue
On another matter, Liow slammed Pakatan Rakyat for its flip-flopping on the implementation of hudud, saying the three opposition component parties hold differing positions on the matter.
While PAS president Hadi Awang (right) has claimed the Islamic party obtained the nod from DAP and PKR, Liow pointed out that the other two party leaders are claiming otherwise.
“MCA calls upon PAS, DAP and PKR to clear the air on this proposal. As a coalition, it has an obligation to address concerns on hudud before any attempt to have it made into a legislation,” Liow said.
He further said DAP and PKR should first put a stop to PAS’ plan to table a Private Member's Bill on hudud in Parliament, instead of merely relying on MCA, Gerakan and MIC to vote against it.
Asked if MCA and DAP would work together to put a halt to the Bill, Liow said: “Let DAP first clear its stand before we go any further”.
Party president Liow Tiong Lai announced today that MCA would submit its list of short-listed candidates to Prime Minister and BN chief Najib Abdul Razak soon.
The Bukit Gelugor parliamentary seat fell vacant following the death of its two-term incumbent Karpal Singh on April 17.
Following this, there were calls to MCA not to contest, with pundits predicting a bigger defeat for the BN component party this time around.
In the last general election, Karpal, known as the "Tiger of Jelutong", won the seat after defeating his MCA rival with a majority of more than 40,000 votes.
However, Liow dismissed such talk of MCA’s possible defeat as mere “rumours”.
At a press conference after chairing MCA’s presidential committee meeting today, he said the party’s Penang liaison committee has also submitted a list of candidates for consideration, but refused to reveal the list.
Asked when the candidate selected would be made known, Liow said there was no rush as DAP would only announce its candidate after May 5.
The Election Commission (EC) fixed May 12 as nomination day and May 25 as polling day for the country's fifth by-election after the 13th general election last year.
Pakatan must clear the air over hudud issue
On another matter, Liow slammed Pakatan Rakyat for its flip-flopping on the implementation of hudud, saying the three opposition component parties hold differing positions on the matter.While PAS president Hadi Awang (right) has claimed the Islamic party obtained the nod from DAP and PKR, Liow pointed out that the other two party leaders are claiming otherwise.
“MCA calls upon PAS, DAP and PKR to clear the air on this proposal. As a coalition, it has an obligation to address concerns on hudud before any attempt to have it made into a legislation,” Liow said.
He further said DAP and PKR should first put a stop to PAS’ plan to table a Private Member's Bill on hudud in Parliament, instead of merely relying on MCA, Gerakan and MIC to vote against it.
Asked if MCA and DAP would work together to put a halt to the Bill, Liow said: “Let DAP first clear its stand before we go any further”.
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