SUDDENLY, Batu incumbent Tian Chua does not seem very sure he will be defending his parliamentary seat in the general election.

The PKR vice president, who had earlier stated confidently that the court would decide in his favour, has told his supporters he will reveal his Plan B tonight.

And Plan B entails working with one of the independent candidates contesting the Batu seat.

After today’s submissions at the Kuala Lumpur High Court, Tian Chua told supporters to converge at Bandar Baru Sentul, in front of Sri Perak Apartment, near UTC, at 9pm today to hear his “announcement” on PKR’s Batu campaign.

“I’m confident the court will make a fair decision tomorrow morning. However, this election must continue. Pakatan Harapan and PKR are not withdrawing from this election. Come what may, we will still campaign on.

“We have made a suggestion to support one of the independent candidates. We will work hard to ensure that Batu does not fall into the hands of Barisan Nasional,” he told the 200 supporters at the court complex today.

P. Prabakaran is likely to be the independent candidate Tian Chua will endorse. The 22-year-old law student stated yesterday he is open to representing PKR following overtures from the opposition component. 

Prabakaran is the youngest candidate in the elections. Should Tian Chua’s legal challenge fail, there will be three contenders for Batu – Prabakaran, BN’s Dominic Lau, PAS’ Azhar Yahya and one more independent V. M. Panjamoorthy.

Tian Chua’s announcement was met with shouts of “Hidup Tian Chua” and “Reformasi”.

Supporters said they were ready to back any plan the party endorsed.

“It’s not just me who is upset. The people of Malaysia should be upset. The rule of law has been overturned,” said Ammar, a businessman and Sentul resident who was at the court in the morning.

Stephen Lee, 59, an engineer said: “Tian Chua is not the only person whose rights have been denied. The people of Batu, all 75,000 of them, saw their democratic rights denied. If need be, we will fight on even after the election.”

Tian Chua was disqualified from defending his seat on Saturday by returning officer Anwar Mohd Zain, who said the RM2,000 fine imposed on the politician in March for insulting a police officer made him ineligible to contest.

The politician has filed a suit to challenge his disqualification. The court will decide tomorrow. – May 3, 2018.