MCA likely to contest in Bagan and Bukit Mertajam seats

Tan Yang Pang

BUKIT MERTAJAM: Two Penang MCA leaders are likely to make their political debut as candidates in the Bukit Mertajam and Bagan parliamentary seats.

Tan Yang Pang, 39, who is National MCA deputy youth organising secretary and Bukit Mertajam MCA youth chief, is slated for the Bukit Mertajam seat.

Dr Tan Chuan Hong, 55, who is Penang MCA vice-chairman and Bagan MCA division chairman, is tipped to be fielded in the Bagan seat.

ALSO READ: MCA ‘poster girl’ for Penang hits ground running

At the Bukit Mertajam Umno delegates meeting at Ixora Hotel yesterday, Penang Barisan Nasional chairman Datuk Musa Sheikh Fadzir said MCA had finalised its candidacy for the two seats.

Without revealing names of the candidates, he said both Umno and MCA would contest in five and four parliamentary seats respectively in GE15.

“For now, MCA will contest in Bagan and Bukit Mertajam.

“Seat allocation among Barisan component parties is going smoothly.

“We have submitted the names of potential candidates to the top leadership for consideration.

“As for the four other seats previously contested by Gerakan, a decision will be made soon,” said Musa.

During GE14, Umno contested in five parliamentary seats, MCA four and Gerakan four.

Gerakan quit Barisan in June 2018 to become an Opposition party after Pakatan Harapan took over the Federal Government. It joined Perikatan Nasional last year.

Musa said about 60% of the candidates would be new faces and their names would be announced once the nomination date was set.

On another matter, Musa challenged the Pakatan Harapan-led administration to dissolve the Penang state assembly if they indeed wanted to save the people the hassle of coming out to vote twice.

“Dissolve the state assembly and contest, let the people decide.

“If indeed they are so concerned about the storms and floods during the monsoon period, then I ask states, including Penang, not to contest at all for the parliamentary seats.

“They talk like they are helping the people but in fact they are troubling the people for needing to come out and vote twice,” he said.

On Saturday, Pakatan Harapan announced that it would stand firm on its decision not to dissolve the state assemblies of Penang, Selangor and Negri Sembilan.