DAP has only offered the Cameron Highlands seat to Wong Tack after facing a backlash from the ground and party members in Bentong, said the incumbent Bentong lawmaker.

Wong Tack, who has since decided to contest as an independent in Bentong, said DAP’s initial decision was to drop him altogether from being a candidate in the coming general election (GE).

He said DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke’s remarks that he had been offered to move to the Cameron Highlands seat to give way for former Ketari assemblyman Young Syefura Othman was inaccurate.

The activist-turned politician said that Pahang DAP had decided on October 16 to remove him from Bentong, and told him that he would not be contesting any seats in Pahang.

“I am to disappear from Pahang completely,” he said in a statement.

He added that he was subsequently offered the Cameron Highlands seat following criticism from his voters and local party members.

“I immediately declined the offer.”

He also said Loke had met him on October 23 to urge him to reconsider standing in Cameron Highlands.

“I told him I will convey what we had discussed in the meeting with the Bentong grassroots members and get back to him within 24 hours.”

On Wednesday, DAP named Young Syefura as its candidate for the Bentong parliamentary seat.

Wong Tack said that the party also told him that he would not fit into the party’s grand strategy for the GE.

In the last general election, Wong Tack defeated former MCA president Liow Tiong Lai to win the traditional Barisan Nasional seat. – October 28, 2022.