'Words of a disappointed man' - MCA president refutes he's purging rivals

'Words of a disappointed man' - MCA president refutes he's purging rivals


JOHOR POLLS | MCA president Wee Ka Siong has refuted accusations by the party's Pontian division chief Tee Siew Keong of leveraging on the Johor polls to purge factional rivals.

Wee described Tee's outburst as the words of a disappointed many after not being able to contest in the state polls and said he won't take the accusations to heart.

Wee stressed that MCA did not drop Tee as a candidate but rather there was no seat for him to contest as it was surrendered to Umno in a seat swap arrangement.

"If we replaced him in Pulai Sebatang, then perhaps he has a reason to say that we're sidelining rivals.

"But during the negotiation process, we were unable to secure the seat and was given other seats.

"So how are we sidelining rivals? We didn't get the seat so how can we field him?" he told a press conference in Yong Peng yesterday.

Factional rival

Tee, who had contested in every election in Pulai Sebatang since 2004, yesterday accused the MCA central leadership of leveraging on the Johor polls to rid of factional rivals.

Tee is seen as close to ex-MCA president Chua Soi Lek, who prior to his retirement was a factional rival to Wee.

Under a seat swap arrangement, MCA surrendered Parit Yaani and Pulai Sebatang to Umno. In return, Umno gave MCA Puteri Wangsa.

MIC also gave up Skudai to MCA but was compensated with Bukit Batu, previously contested by Gerakan, which was no longer part of BN.

Wee said he understood Tee's disappointment. "I can fully understand Tee's feelings," he said.

Seat swap

The MCA president stressed that the seat swap was not done unilaterally.

He said Pontian Umno has repeatedly expressed interest in the seat.

He added that despite the seat swat, MCA ultimately managed to secure 15 state seats to contest in, - the same in the 2018 general election.