TANJUNG Piai Umno chief Jefridin Atan has refuted claims that members will reject MCA’s Wee Jeck Seng in the November 16 by-election.

He said the Barisan Nasional lynchpin will work hard to ensure Wee wins the seat for the pact.

“Umno accepts BN’s decision (to field Wee) and views MCA as a fellow BN component, in the spirit of brotherhood. This cooperation has gone on for decades.

“The claims that Umno has rejected the MCA candidate are untrue. Together, we want to win,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Posters circulated online claim that Tg Piai Umno rejects BN’s decision to have an MCA man contest the seat, and that 58 Umno branches will boycott the by-election if the pact does not change its choice of candidate.

“It’s not true, it’s fake,” said Jefridin, adding that Umno is only starting to prepare for the polls.

“It doesn’t mean we’re boycotting the by-election. Our level of commitment is high. The spirit of cooperation with MCA is very strong.”

Yesterday, BN announced that Wee will fight to reclaim the federal seat that he lost in last year’s general election.

He held Tg Piai for two terms before losing by some 500 votes to the late Dr Md Farid Md Rafik of Bersatu.

For the by-election, Pakatan Harapan is fielding Bersatu’s Karmaine Sardini, while Wendy Subramaniam is standing for Gerakan.

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, too, has accepted Wee’s candidacy and pledged his party’s support.

The Islamist party’s secretary-general, Takiyuddin Hassan, in a statement said: “I hereby confirm that the PAS president agrees with the candidate presented by BN.

“PAS believes that the by-election will be based on local interests… which is hoped to be the best formula to win votes, to strengthen the opposition’s voice at the national level, leading to mature politics.

“The support (for Wee) is also in line with the agreement signed by PAS and Umno on September 14.”

PAS has said some of its top leaders will attend nomination for the Tg Piai polls this Saturday. – October 31, 2019.