Melaka polls: MCA will not recognise candidates announced without party's approval - Wee
He said announcing candidates without consulting and obtaining the party’s approval was unacceptable, particularly when seats previously contested by MCA were allegedly given to other parties.
MELAKA - MCA will not recognise any of its candidates announced by Barisan Nasional (BN) for the 16th Melaka state election without the approval of the party’s top leadership.
MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong said announcing candidates without consulting and obtaining the party’s approval was unacceptable, particularly when seats previously contested by MCA were allegedly given to other parties.
He also claimed that MCA had not been informed in advance that tonight’s BN event at the Melaka International Trade Centre (MITC) would involve the announcement of candidates, but had instead been told that it was merely the launch of the election machinery.
"Even if they announce the candidates, we will not recognise them. If the MCA president himself has not signed off on them, how can they be recognised?
"Candidates must be proposed by the party’s top leadership. This is the standard operating procedures (SOPs) of every political party,” he told Chinese-language newspaper reporters, with the translation shared with the media.
Wee and the MCA leadership were understood to have left the event before the keynote address by BN chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and the announcement of candidates, before subsequently holding a press conference outside the hall.
Wee stressed that MCA was a longtime ally of Umno and that the two parties had worked together for decades. He said tonight’s developments could give the impression that MCA was simply keeping quiet and giving in, despite being a party with dignity.
Asked whether this meant MCA would not participate in the state election this time, he said there were still several days before nomination day and expressed hope that the matter could still be rectified.
He said the matter had caused dissatisfaction among MCA leaders because negotiations over seat allocations in Melaka had yet to be finalised, including those involving two seats previously contested by the party.
Wee also urged the BN central leadership to intervene and resolve the dispute fairly, stressing that decisions concerning MCA candidates should not be made unilaterally.
BN announced its candidates for 21 state assembly seats, including two MCA representatives: Machap Jaya incumbent Datuk Ngwe Hee Sem and Kelebang incumbent Datuk Lim Ban Hong. - BERNAMA
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