Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat dan dua naib presiden MCA Gan Ping Sieu dan Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen telah digugurkan daripada bertanding dalam Pilihan Raya 2013n kata Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek hari ini.
Ong dan Ng masing-masing adalah penyandang ahli parlimen Pandan dan Raub, manakala Gan dilantik sebagai senator selepas kalah di kerusi Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) Mengkibol di Johor.
“Terdapat 19 (51.3 peratus) muka baru bagi kerusi parlimen dan 49 (54.4 peratus) muka baru bagi kerusi DUN,” kata Dr Chua dalam satu kenyataan hari ini selepas mengedarkan senarai calon MCA untuk Pilihan Raya 2013.
Selain daripada Ng, kesemua menteri dan timbalan menteri MCA mempertahankan kerusi parlimen mereka: Menteri Pengangkutan Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha (Lumut), Menteri Kesihatan Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai (Bentong), Menteri Perumahan dan Kerajaan Tempatan Datuk Seri Chor Chee Heung (Alor Setar), Timbalan Menteri Dalam Negeri Datuk Lee Chee Leong (Kampar), Timbalan Menteri Pertanian dan Asas Tani Datuk Chua Tee Yong (Labis) dan Timbalan Menteri Pendidikan Datuk Wee Ka Siong (Ayer Hitam). Timbalan Menteri Kewangan Datuk Ir Donald Lim dipindahkan dari kerusi Petaling Jaya Selatan yang beliau kalah dalam Pilihan Raya 2008 ke Selayang.
Veteran MCA Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan akan mempertahankan kerusi parlimen Tanjung Malim di Perak. Bekas Timbalan Menteri Wanita, Keluarga dan Pembangunan Masyarakat Datuk Heng Seai Kie akan bertanding di kerusi parlimen Padang Serai di Kedah.
Pengerusi MCA Bentong Datuk Hoh Khai Mun diletakkan untuk menggantikan Ng di Raub dan Gary Lim Chin Yee menggantikan Ong di kerusi parlimen Pandan.
Sementara itu ahli veteran MCA Datuk Yap Pian Hon, 70, dan Datuk Teh Kim Poo, 62, akan bertanding masing-masing di kerusi parlimen Serdang dan Klang. MCA akan bertanding di tujuh kerusi parlimen di Johor kecuali Gelang Patah.
Dr Chua mengalahkan Ong sebagai presiden MCA pada 2012, akan tetapi Ong masih popular dikalangan pengundi Cina dan sejumlah besar dalam parti Barisan Nasional (BN).
Ong bertegas pada Febuari untuk bertanding sebagai calon BN di Pandan untuk melawan Pengarah Strategi PKR Rafizi Ramli ― selepas Dr Chua menggugurkan beliau daripada senarai calon parti untuk pilihan raya umum ke 13.
Sementara itu , Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat berkata senarai calon MCA tidak lama lagi akan “dihakimi oleh rakyat”, sebaik sahaja disahkan digugurkan daripada bertanding dalam pilihan raya akan datang.
Akan tetapi bekas presiden MCA mendiamkan diri tentang sama ada beliau akan mempertahankan kerusi parlimen Pandan sebagai calon bebas untuk membantah keputusan partinya untuk meletakkan peguam berusia 39 tahun Garry Lim Chin Yee untuk melawan Rafizi Ramli dari PKR.
“Saya akan beritahu apabila tiba masanya. Senarai calon MCA akan dihakimi oleh rakyat tidak lama lagi,” kata Ong dalam kenyataan pendeknya kepada The Malaysian Insider sebentar tadi.
Ong yang tidak sebulu dengan penggantinya sebagai presiden MCA Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, merupakan ahli parlimen selama lima penggal bagi kerusi parlimen Pandan, digugurkan petang ini dari senarai calon Barisan Nasional (BN) selepas senarai akhir diserahkan kepada semua ketua parti komponen.
Beliau menyertai dua lagi naib presiden MCA Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen dan Gan Peng Sieu yang turut digugurkan sebagai calon. Ong dan Ng kedua-duanya penyandang ahli parlimen Pandan dan Raub, sementara Gan dilantik sebagai senator selepas kalah di kerusi Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) Mengkibol di Johor.
Gan pernah dikatakan seiring dengan kumpulan Ong masa berlakunya krisis dalaman MCA setelah pilihan raya 2008 yang menyaksikan perwakilan parlimen MCA berkurangan lebih daripada separuh. Dr. Chua menggantikan Ong sebagai presiden MCA pada 2010, tapi Ong masih kekal popular di kalangan pengundi cina dengan jumlah sokongan yang ketara di dalam BN.
Setelah digugurkan dari senarai calon untuk pilihan raya ke-13 oleh Dr. Chua pada Februari lepas, Ong menegaskan beliau akan bertanding sebagai calon BN di Pandan melawan pengarah strategi PKR Rafizi yang dikenali ramai. Ong pada masa itu juga tidak menjawab soalan sama ada dia akan pilih untuk bertanding sebagai calon bebas sekiranya BN tidak setuju untuk meletakkan beliau di Pandan.
Beliau juga tidak mengatakan sama ada beliau merasakan sebagai calon pilihan BN dan Najib bagi kerusi Pandan. Kedua-duanya menurutnya pada ketika itu adalah spekulasi semata-mata sehingga kepimpinan BN membuat keputusan. Difahamkan Ong disokong oleh pemimpin kanan Umno untuk mempertahankan kerusi parlimen Pandan oleh kerana populariti peribadinya dikalangan penduduk kawasan tersebut
Pemerhati juga merasakan peluang BN untuk mempertahankan Pandan lebih baik jika Ong sebagai calon terutamanya apabila berhadapan dengan Rafizi dari PKR.
Rafizi, 35 mencipta namanya tahun lalu dengan beberapa siri pendedahan seperti skandal Pusat Fidlot Kebangsaan (NFC) menyebabkan namanya membanjiri dada-dada akhbar.-malaysian insider
MCA drops Ong Tee Keat, Gan Ping Sieu and Ng Yen Yen...
MCA will not field two of its best known personalities - former president Ong Tee Keat and vice-president Gan Ping Sieu - in the May 5 general election.
Another vice-president, Dr Ng Yen Yen, will not be fielded as well. Ong will be replaced by newcomer Gary Lim while Kluang, where Gan was eyeing, would be defended by incumbent Hou Kok Chung.
This was confirmed when the official list was released by the party headquarters this evening.
The party was informed of BN chairperson Najib Abdul Razak's choice of candidates this morning.
In another development, MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek confirmed that the party will contest 37 parliamentary and 90 state seats.This means that MCA is contesting three less parliamentary seats as compared in 2008. The three seats out of MCA's hands are Gelang Patah, Kuantan and Wangsa Maju.
Seats on 'loan'
This is the least number of Parliament seats contested since the last re-delineation exercise allowed MCA to contest 40 seats in 2004. In 1999, MCA contested in 35 Parliamentary seats and 77 state seats, and won 28 and 68 seats respectively.
Following this handsome victory, more seats were allocated in 2004 and the party delivered once again, winning 31 Parliamentary seats and 76 state seats. In 2008, MCA won only 15 Parliamentary seats and 32 state seats.Chua said that these MCA seats were being "loaned" to BN component parties to ensure BN's victory.
"The decision for MCA to loan some of its seats to the BN component parties is part of the new strategies and the party will get the seats back in addition of new seats from constituency delineation after the GE," said Chua in a press statement.
'Put the party's interest first'
He said that he understood the disgruntlement among some party members over this arrangement and hoped they would put the party's interest first.
"This coming GE is a do-or-die battle for MCA, we should set our differences aside and ensure all BN candidates will emerge victorious because the outcome of the GE will affect MCA’s political future and the nation," he said.
Chua added that of the 37 candidates for Parliament, 19 (51.3 percent) are new faces, of whom five (13.5 percent) are women.
As for state assembly seats, 49 out of 90 candidates (54.4 percent) are new faces. Chua said that MCA will face stiffer competition this time round and MCA must employ new strategies.
"The ultimate goal for MCA is to ensure that BN will continue to form the government after the GE," he said. Met at the MCA headquarters today, Ng told reporters that she had already informed the party leadership that she does not want to defend her seat.
"I feel very relaxed. I can now continue with my life," she said. Ng said that she would continue with her party duties and help MCA candidates with their campaigns.-malaysiakini
Meanwhile, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat said, MCA’s candidates list will soon be “judged by the people”,shortly after it was confirmed that he was dropped from the coming polls contest.
But the former MCA president was silent on whether would still defend his Pandan seat by contesting as an independent, pitting himself against his replacement from the party, 39-year-old lawyer Garry Lim Chin Yee, and PKR’s Rafizi Ramli.
“I will cross the bridge when I come to it. MCA list will be judged by the people soon,” Ong said in a two-sentence statement to The Malaysian Insider tonight via text message.
Ong, who has been at loggerheads with his successor, Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, is the five-term MP for the Pandan federal seat but was unceremoniously left out of the running this afternoon when Barisan Nasional’s (BN) final list of contenders was finally handed over to component party chiefs.
Aside from Ong, other political heavyweights dropped from the contest include MCA vice-presidents Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen and Gan Ping Sieu.Ong and Ng are the incumbent MPs for Pandan and Raub, respectively, while Gan was appointed senator after losing his Mengkibol state seat in Johor.
Gan was once said to be on Ong’s team during a fractious faction war in MCA that took place shortly after the tumultuous 2008 polls saw the party’s parliamentary representation slashed by half. Dr Chua deposed Ong as MCA president in 2010, but the latter remains popular with independent Chinese voters and significant numbers within BN.
Ong insisted last February that he would contest as a BN candidate in Pandan ― going up against PKR strategy director Rafizi, a well-known opposition politician ― after Dr Chua dropped him from the party’s nominees list for the 13th general election.
Ong had at the time also brushed off a question on whether he would choose to stand as an independent candidate should BN decide against selecting him to defend Pandan. He also would not say if he felt he was BN’s or Najib’s choice candidate for the seat.
Both points, he said then, were merely speculation that he should not dwell on until a concrete decision is announced by the BN leadership.It is understood that Ong is favoured by senior leaders in Umno to defend his Pandan parliamentary seat because of his personal popularity among constituents there.
Observers also believe that the best chance for BN to retain the seat was to field Ong, especially in a contest against Rafizi, known as PKR’s “exposé man”.
Rafizi, 35, who in the last year has made a name for himself with a series of exposés such as that on the National Feedlot Centre scandal, is already a household name following his many appearances in the media and various opposition ceramahs around the country.- malaysian insider
Senarai calon2 PRU-13 parti Gerakan...
cheers.
No comments:
Post a Comment