BADMINTON ace Lee Chong Wei stole the show from Bentong candidate Liow Tiong Lai at the latter’s campaign today, when the sports star came to the hot seat as a guest of the MCA president.

Lee was roped in for Liow’s campaign to defend the marginal seat, which the caretaker transport minister won by just 379 votes in 2013 against DAP.

The national athlete was Liow’s guest at the reopening of the Bentong Youth Club after renovations, where Liow urged Bentong voters to emulate Lee’s fighting spirit.

“Bentong’s development should be like Lee Chong Wei’s spirit. The people of Bentong are our team and we need everyone’s participation so that Bentong can be developed into a satellite city as the back garden of greater Kuala Lumpur,” Liow said.

Bentong, known for its orchards and eco-resorts, is about a 90-minute drive from the capital city. It has long been a Barisan Nasional stronghold through MCA and Liow has defended it for the last three terms.

The youth were excited at the chance to meet Lee, who held friendly matches with a few of them.

In GE14, Liow’s main contender will be DAP’s Wong Tack, an environmentalist, who will be standing against the MCA leader for a second time. A third contender is Balasubramaniam Nachiappan (PAS).

Bentong is a mixed seat with 47% Malay voters and 42% Chinese. Liow had given RM20,000 to the Bentong club in April for its renovations. – May 2, 2018.