Warisan to contest 42 parliamentary, state seats; Ong Tee Keat for Pandan

KUALA LUMPUR: Former MCA president, Tan Sri Ong Tee Keat, has been named as Parti Warisan (Warisan) candidate to contest one of the 26 parliamentary seats in the Peninsula in the upcoming 15th General Election (GE15).

Warisan president, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, when announcing candidates for parliamentary seats as well as 16 state seats today, said that thus far, the party will contest three parliamentary seats each in Perlis, Perak and Kuala Lumpur; five seats in Kedah; four seats each in Penang and Selangor; with one seat each in Kelantan, Negeri Sembilan and Johor. Another parliamentary seat will be announced later, while the state seats are nine in Perlis and seven in Perak.

Ong will try to recapture the Pandan parliamentary seat, which he held for two terms from 2004 to 2013 when representing Barisan Nasional (BN), after serving for four terms from 1989 as a Member of Parliament for Ampang Jaya.

Warisan also nominated former PKR member, Wee Choo Keong, to contest the Wangsa Maju parliamentary seat, and former PAS member, Syed Araniri Syed Ahmad, for the Kuala Kedah parliamentary seat.

Other candidates for parliamentary seats include Ko Chu Liang (Padang Besar), Noraini Md Salleh (Pokok Sena), Ong Chin Wen (Batu Kawan), G Balachandran (Gopeng), Khairul Azuan Kamarrudin (Tumpat), Azman Idris (Kuala Pilah) and Mohd Zohar Ahmad (Sekijang).

Mohd Shafie said that for the time being, Warisan decided to contest 52 parliamentary seats, including 26 seats in the Peninsula, 25 in Sabah and one in Labuan.

At the press conference after the candidate introduction session, Mohd Shafie said the candidate for the Arau parliamentary seat will be announced before nomination day, this Saturday (Nov 5).

"(For) other constituencies (possibility to contest), we are still studying the matter so that we can announce it together. We will identify who are the right candidates to secure the seats in the parliamentary and state seats so that we can win this election," he said.

On Friday, Mohd Shafie gave a hint that candidates consisting of several former top leaders of MCA, including the former president, leaders and key members of the party, apart from PKR and UMNO, would contest on the Warisan ticket in GE15 in the Peninsula.

Mohd Shafie also expressed his confidence in the candidates, who come from various backgrounds and experiences, to win the hearts of the people in their respective constituencies.

"Some of them have experience in particular areas and we leave it to the people to decide," he said.

Asked about Warisan's decision to go solo in GE15, Shafie, who is the Semporna Member of Parliament, said that Warisan's struggle is centred on the interests of the people, above the interests of the party.

"We (Warisan) have joined a coalition before. A coalition can be formed if it is for the benefit of the people, but for me, instead of joining other political parties, I would rather join the people," he said.

Warisan used to work with Pakatan Harapan in GE14.

Warisan expanded its wings to the Peninsula on Dec 17, 2021, after five years of being established in Sabah.

The Election Commission (EC) has set Nov 19 as the polling day for GE15, nomination day on Nov 5 and early voting on Nov 15.

-- BERNAMA