Return of the old guards?

Return of the old guards?




Tan Sri Ong Tee Keat


By Tony Yew

Nov 14, 2022


With the 15th General Election in full swing and hitting the halfway mark of campaigning period, how many of you have noticed some formerly retired politicians (from GE14) returning to the limelight as candidates or campaigners?

On nomination day, not many were surprised to see dropped incumbents announcing their candidacy as independents.

Those who did, the likes of Wong Tack (incumbent Bentong parliamentarian), who chose to fight his own party DAP’s Young Syefura Othman, isn’t quite a ‘retired politician’ from the previous election but more of a dissatisfied incumbent being passed over.

However, the likes of Ong Tee Keat, announcing his return with Warisan, can both be surprising and yet welcoming for at least some senior citizens of Pandan.

Ong, a former MCA president had served as a four-term Ampang Jaya member of parliament before it was re-delineated as the present Pandan constituency.

He subsequently served another two terms as the Pandan MP, last defeating a PKR candidate with a majority of 25,236 votes. No pushover, but fast forward 14 years after his last win, is he still a winnable candidate?

Another former MCA president eyeing a comeback is Liow Tiong Lai.

With his four-term record as MP in Bentong, and last losing the seat to Wong Tack in GE14, Liow is banking on his traditional supporters of MCA and BN to send him back to parliament.

Nonetheless, in MCA, a return to the top is highly unlikely given its current president Wee Ka Siong’s strong support in the party.

Liow’s comeback attempt had been seen from within MCA as purely down to the fact that Barisan Nasional (BN) supporters in Bantong had pleaded for him to stand again as they can’t see any other viable candidate to win there for the coalition.

If the former MCA presidents are mounting a comeback, what about former Gerakan president Mah Siew Keong?

A home town boy whom many in Teluk Intan loved, Mah served for one term as a state assemblyman of Pasir Bedamar before successfully winning the parliamentary seat there in GE10 and GE11.

While in GE13, he lost the seat to the late Seah Long Peng, he later successfully bounced back to defeat DAP’s Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud by only 238 votes in a by-election.

Gerakan is now part of Perikatan Nasional and Mah’s return to the frontlines is by him campaigning for PN’s challenger Zainol Fadzi Paharudin, who is up against incumbent DAP MP Nga Kor Ming.

Given that Mah had previously served Teluk Intan well as its MP, it is hard not to believe that he will be able to help garner strong support for Zainol despite many considering that Nga would not face much difficulties defending his seat.

Even a reduction in majority would be seen as a loss of face for Nga, especially so since after GE14, he was repeatedly shunted by other Pakatan Harapan colleagues who saw him as a liability.

Meanwhile in Titiwangsa, Johari Abdul Ghani, who lost to Bersatu’s Rina Harun in GE14 is once again contesting the parliamentary seat there.

The former deputy finance minister may feel that he could win back the seat as he had only lost it to RIna by just 4,100 votes, which is not insurmountable to overcome this time given that Titiwangsa now has three other candidates vying to be its MP.

Whether Bersatu’s votes in 2018, which was won on PH ticket go to PN solely or will it be divided between the candidates is anyone’s guess.

What is certain though is that Johari is pulling out all the stops as he steps up his campaigning in high pitched fashion, unlike many of other BN’s candidates who seem to be lagging behind even in terms of campaign materials and publicity.

Then again, Johari is no pushover as the man can be considered a ‘media king’.

With Undi18 now being an integral part of the general election, will the old guard be successful in their attempts at making a comeback?

Malaysia awaits with bated breath.