Gerakan president best candidate to retake Teluk Intan?

Malacca Gerakan acting chairman Chua Lian Chye said this was based on the fact that Mah was a two-term MP for Teluk Intan, and a local boy with family roots in the area.

He said, with sound knowledge of Teluk Intan and well-respected in that area, Mah could serve the people effectively, thus giving BN a much-needed boost in Perak and the country.

"Malacca Gerakan pledges full support for him (Mah) to be the candidate for BN in Teluk Intan," Chua told a press conference in Malim Jaya here today.

The Teluk Intan by-election is being held, following the death of its MP, Seah Leong Peng of DAP from cancer on May 1.

The Election Commission has set May 19 for nomination while polling is on May 31.

At the 13th General Election last year, Seah had defeated Mah with a majority of 7,313 votes.

Last Friday, Mah said he was ready to contest the Teluk Intan seat if he was given the mandate by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Asked what Gerakan's winning factor was to retake Teluk Intan, Chua said the hudud (Islamic penal law) would be one of the factors, especially for the Chinese voters, not to vote any candidate from the opposition.

"But I truly stress we're not playing games here, especially with sensitive issues like hudud, political games will not be our main capital to gain support...we're offering good old hardworking (candidate) for the people in the form of our own president (Mah)," he said.