THE battle for the Batu parliamentary seat may appear to be a shoo-in for Barisan Nasional candidate Dr Dominic Lau with the disqualification of incumbent Tian Chua, but the Gerakan vice-president isn’t taking any chances.

Aware of calls by voters to “punish” BN in the 14th general election, the Gerakan vice-president said that he would give it his all and not underestimate his opponents in the four-cornered fight.

“I don’t know what my chances are, but I want to use this campaign period to tell the people what we have done in the last five years.

“Let the voters decide on the candidates’ credibility,” Lau said after a walkabout at the Selayang market today.

PKR vice-president Tian Chua, also a two-term MP, was disqualified on Saturday from contesting because of a RM2,000 fine imposed by the Shah Alam High Court.

Tian Chua filed a suit against the Election Commission at the Kuala Lumpur High Court today to reverse the rejection of his nomination.

The Batu seat formed in 1959 will now see a fight between Lau, Azhar Yahya from PAS, and independent candidates P. Prabakaran and V.M. Panjamothy.

Lau said that his vision, if he gets elected, is to turn Batu into a cultural and tourist hub.

“We want to make Batu a tourist spot because the chariot passes here during Thaipusam. There are also many Chinese temples that we can promote to tourists.

“As for the Malay community, we want to promote the areas where the Ramadan bazaars are held.” – April 30, 2018.