KULAI: DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang’s act of challenging Penang Gerakan chairman Teng Chang Yeow to contest against him in Penang is a ploy to return to Penang.
Gerakan president Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong said this will also give Lim, who is currently Gelang Patah member of Parliament, a reason to run away from Gelang Patah.
“We have endorsed Teng as a candidate even though initially, we decided not to field him to make way for new blood,” said Mah.
He also pointed out that it was Lim who first challenged Teng, who is also Penang Barisan Nasional chairman, and not the other way around,
“My question to Lim is, if Pakatan Harapan is making Johor the frontline state for the opposition in the next general election, why is he trying to run away from Gelang Patah and move to Penang?”
Mah was speaking to reporters after opening the Johor Gerakan Delegates Conference at a restaurant here today.
Present were Gerakan secretary general Datuk Liang Teck Meng and Johor Gerakan chairman Datuk Teo Kok Chee.
On another matter, Mah said the party has submitted its list of candidates for the next general election to Barisan Nasional and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
“We have finalised the lists for all states and have submitted them to BN and MACC for vetting. We have submitted a few names for each of the seats that we will contest," said Mah.
He said he expects Gerakan to contest 12 parliamentary seats and 33 state seats in the upcoming 14th General Election.
“In Johor, we are confident of defending the Simpang Renggam parliamentary seat and the Pemanis state seat. We are also confident of winning back the Bukit Batu state seat.
“And we are ready to contest in the Skudai state seat that was previously contested by MCA.”
He said based on the feedback the party received, he expressed confidence that Gerakan will perform better in Penang in GE14.
“Although we did not perform well in the last election, we continued to serve the people in the constituencies that we lost and the feedback from the grassroots is very good.”