MCA will field candidate for Kajang by-election - Liow

He said in the spirit of the power sharing formula practised by the Barisan Nasional (BN), Kajang would always remain an MCA seat and that the party would have to work doubly hard to win it back from the opposition.

"We (MCA) will nominate our candidate to the BN leadership once the Election Commission has announced the by-election date," he told a press conference after chairing a meeting of MCA's presidential council at Wisma MCA here, Wednesday.

Liow, however, would not confirm or deny if MCA would be fielding the same candidate it did for the last general election (GE13) but said the person would be a "winnable candidate".

The MCA's candidate then was Lee Ban Seng.

The seat fell vacant after its incumbent Lee Chin Cheh, from Parti Keadilan Rakyat, resigned on Monday.

Asked further about MCA's chances of winning back the seat, Liow said: "We are always positive and all this while have served the rakyat (people) and the rakyat needs to be aware how important is MCA's voice in Selangor.

Elaborating further, Liow said MCA had set up special committees at the central, state and division levels to face the by-election.

He said MCA deputy president Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong would helm the committee at the central level while Datuk Donald Lim Siang Chai and Lee Ban Seng at the state and division levels.

Liow also said the incumbent's resignation to pave the way for opposition leader and PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to contest the seat was a manipulation of the democratic system in Malaysia by the party.

"This is an old tactic, they still want to use it and I am sure the rakyat will be very angry, more so this has happened during the Chinese New Year festive season," he said.