MCA wants a Parliament seat
Published on: Thursday, April 19, 2018
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah MCA hopes to swap its Luyang state seat with Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) for the Kota Kinabalu parliamentary seat in the May 9 general election.According to sources, MCA President Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai is negotiating with both the State and Federal BN leadership as well as PBS on the proposal.Both Kota Kinabalu and Luyang were won by DAP in the last election. PBS candidate for Kota Kinabalu, Chin Teck Ming, was defeated by DAP's Jimmy Wong while in Luyang, MCA's Datuk Agnes Shim was defeated by DAP's Hiew King Cheu.ADVERTISEMENT However, Hiew left DAP and joined MCA later. In the 12th General Election, Chin was defeated by Hiew in Kota Kinabalu.MCA believes it would have a better chance of winning Kota Kinabalu as its proposed candidate, Hiew, was the MP before moving to Luyang.Luyang is one of the three state seats under Kota Kinabalu. The other two are Api-Api and Likas. MCA also believes that the swapping of seats will benefit both parties. PBS has yet to name its candidates for Kota Kinabalu.ADVERTISEMENT "We have a few candidates in mind but yet to decide who will stand in KK," said a senior PBS leader.Prominent developer Datuk Susan Wong was the frontrunner to be PBS candidate but had recently made known to the PBS leadership that she was not keen.
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DAP has named its incumbent Sri Tanjong Assemblyman as its candidate for Kota Kinabalu and SAPP President Datuk Yong Teck Lee may join in the fray.As for Luyang, MCA is considering Hiew, Agnes and her daughter Dr Pamela Yong.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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The incumbent for Api-Api is Christina Liew of PKR and PBS Deputy President Datuk Dr Yee Moh Chai is expected to be fielded again.Should the seat-swapping proposal materialise, it will be the first time that MCA is contesting in a parliamentary seat in Sabah. During its early days, MCA was only given the Kapayan state seat but was given Luyang after SAPP pulled out from BN. - Alex Ong