Sabah MCA chief dismisses ‘rift’ in party

Queville To

Sabah MCA will demand to contest in more seats in the 13th general election.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah MCA chief Edward Khoo has downplayed a rift in the state MCA leadership that has opened up over his “eligibility” for the Kepayan state seat in the coming general election.

Khoo is the party’s only representative in the State Legislative Assembly but a faction in MCA is claiming that he is an “outsider” and should not be automatically granted the opportunity to defend the seat this time around.

Khoo, however, said yesterday as the tussle for power flared up publicly that the selection of candidates for the coming general election would be decided by the Barisan Nasional (BN) leadership.

“Who will be the candidate and where will he or she stand in the coming general election will be decided by the BN leadership internally, and not simply by any person.

“There are many factors to consider and most importantly, it must be a ‘winnable candidate’, he said.

He said that even he himself was not sure whether he would be fielded this time around.

He said that what really mattered now was to figure out how best to assist BN to retain power, at both federal and state levels.

“As a state assemblyman, my principle has always been to do my level best to help solve the various problems affecting my constituents, until the day the State Legislative Assembly is dissolved. This matter most for me,” he said.

Khoo, who is also the Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department, said this after attending a swearing-in ceremony of the new Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) of SRJK (C) Yuk Ming, Penampang, yesterday.

He was responding to a question on the stand taken by Penampang MCA recently that it would not accept the fielding of an “outsider” in Kepayan in the coming national polls.

Sabah MCA wants more seats

Penampang MCA chairman Paul Kong, in making such a stand, said the division had in the past eight years endured the consequences of fielding an “outsider”.

He hoped the MCA central leadership could endorse its resolution.

Kong also said his division has unanimously endorsed its decision to recommend any of its leaders or party colleagues to be fielded as a candidate for Kepayan.

Meanwhile, Khoo said the party is seeking more seats to enlarge its platform to serve the people, adding that it would do so “through proper channels” together with other BN component parties.

He also rebutted claims that Sabah MCA had yet to declare its stand on the setting up of a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on the illegal immigrants issue in Sabah.

“Sabah MCA is all for the setting up of the RCI. In fact, we have assigned our senior representative Chau Tet On to attend the meeting called by the special committee on the ‘terms of reference’ for the proposed RCI [which is headed by Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan].

“We have also submitted out proposals on the ‘terms of reference’. It was absolutely wrong to say that Sabah MCA has yet to declare its stand on this issue. This would not have happened had there been proper communication,” he said.

He was responding to Kong’s claims, during the Penampang MCA congress last Saturday, that Sabah MCA had failed to declare its stand on the issue.

“I think there must be a misunderstanding on this. I believe this would not have happened if Kong had not been absent from our state liaison committee meetings most of the time,” he added.