State polls: BN candidate for Bandar seat in Terengganu describes his selection as creating history
30 Jul 2023 04:10pm
The 'Welcome to Terengganu' gate is a symbol of the border between the states of Pahang and Terengganu located in Kampung Chendor, Kemaman. Photo by Bernama
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This is because the seat he is contesting in the election traditionally belonged to MCA in the spirit of the BN coalition, of which Umno is the lynchpin, for the past 60 years.
"History is created ... the Bandar seat was given to Umno after 60 years it was shared with MCA. I am confident that Umno will be well received by the voters, especially the Chinese community in Bandar due to the spirit of unity and the relationship that has been established for so long," he told Bernama here.
In fact, according to him, he himself had a close relationship with the Chinese community in the constituency since he was active with Umno Youth in 2005.
"I have been in close contact with the Chinese community in Bandar for a long time and I always accompanied former MCA assemblyman Toh Chin Yaw who served here from 2004 to 2013 delivering assistance and various programmes together.
"I don't think there is a problem wIth Umno replacing MCA here. God willing, they can accept it," said 43-year-old Armi Irzan.
He further said that the decision to place an Umno candidate in Bandar was also made based on the composition of voters according to race in the constituency which has changed.
"If we look at the 11th General Election (GE11), the difference in the number of Malay and Chinese voters was only around 3,000 people. But now the number of Malay voters exceeds the Chinese voters with a majority of more than 7,000 people," he said.
In GE 14 in 2018, Pas candidate Ahmad Shah Muhamed won the Bandar seat. He defeated Azan Ismail of PKR and Toh Seng Cheng (BN-MCA).
Six states - Kedah, Penang, Selangor, Negeri, Sembilan, Terengganu and Kelantan go to the polls on Aug 12. The nomination day was yesterday (July 29).
MCA has decided to sit out the state polls this time. - BERNAMA
