DAP state chairman Liew Chin Tong will take on MCA deputy president Wee Ka Siong for the Ayer Hitam parliamentary seat in the 14th general election.

The much anticipated challenge for the seat by Liew was announced by the party’s secretary-general, Lim Guan Eng.

“We are fielding Saudara Liew in this Umno and Barisan Nasional stronghold. Help make the Pakatan Harapan challenge to form the next government a reality,” he said in announcing the party’s first candidate for the polls at the party’s 52nd anniversary programme in Ayer Hitam this morning. 

In an earlier interview, Liew had told the Malaysian Insight that if PH could win the Ayer Hitam federal seat, it could probably win 10 more parliamentary seats in Johor.

Acknowledging that it was an MCA and BN stronghold, the Kluang MP said Ayer Hitam had never featured in the opposition’s list of target seats.

However, he said the seat was not impenetrable.

“In the past, Ayer Hitam never featured as a target seat. But this time, we are targeting it because if we can win in Ayer Hitam, then we can definitely win 10 more federal seats in Johor,” Liew said at the launch of the PH Ayer Hitam election centre in January.

Liew, however, said there was nothing personal against Wee involved in the fight.

“This is not a personal battle but a battle for Malaysia,’ he said.

He said it was all about PH having a fighting chance of winning the seat, which the MCA deputy president had held for three terms.

“There is a fighting chance here. For change, we need to go all out. Those who want change will support this attempt,” he said.

He said the Ayer Hitam seat was among 10 seats the party hoped to win in Johor as part of PH’s quest to form the federal government.

“We are targeting 100 federal seats in the peninsular. This is among those seats,” he said.

Ayer Hitam is a Malay-majority parliamentary constituency. Wee’s majority has been plunging since winning the seat for the first time in 2004. He garnered just 51.3% of total votes cast in the 2013 general election.

Liew said he was going into the battle as a PH candidate and hoped the pact’s message for change would resonate with voters. – March 18, 2018