KUANTAN: Pahang MIC has urged fellow Barisan Nasional (BN) component party People's Progressive Party (myPPP) to keep details of discussions about seat allocations for the 14th General Election (GE14) confidential, instead of announcing them to the media.
State MIC chairman Datuk R. Goonasakaren reminded myPPP president Tan Sri M. Kayveas to respect the BN principle of discussing internal matters only with other coalition members.
"myPPP is a (BN) component party and should discuss the issue with the MIC president and PM," he said in reference to party president Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam and Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is also BN chairman.
"The (issue of candidates) is decided by the top level (of the BN leadership, namely) by the PM and (Subramaniam)," he added.
Goonasakaren was commenting on Kayveas’ interview with Utusan Malaysia Online two days ago, during which he reiterated his desire to contest the Cameron Highlands Parliamentary seat for GE14.
He also told the website that if given the opportunity, myPPP would be able to muster a GE14 majority vote of over 2,000 in the constituency.
Kayveas is reported to have first expressed his intention to contest the seat in early September, less than a week after Dr Subramaniam, during the 71st Pahang MIC Convention in Temerloh, announced that MIC's election machinery had been mobilised in Cameron Highlands.
On whether the party is open to seat-swapping were it to benefit both the MIC and other BN components, Goonasakaren repeated that the matter could only be decided by the top party leadership.
After launching the Temple Transformation Centre (TTC) programme at the Sri Thandayuthapani temple in Bestari Jaya, Selangor, yesterday, Dr Subramaniam said the door for discussion on seat-swapping remains open and that the outcome should be an equitable one for all BN component parties.