Umno mulls straight fights with DAP, banks on Malay vote

ARCHIVES 2013

By admin-s On Apr 10, 2013

MCA president Dr Chua has refused to step up to contest in Gelang Patah.

(The Malaysian Insider) – Umno plans on fielding their candidates either in all of the DAP seats or most of them as the Malay vote is more dependable than Chinese support, say strategists.

The Malaysian Insider understands the Barisan Nasional (BN) war room believes Umno candidates can beat back the DAP attack in Johor and other Malay-majority states rather than MCA hopefuls.

“Umno candidates have a better chance of keeping BN seats than the MCA, so we’re looking into pushing more Malay candidates,” a ruling coalition source toldThe Malaysian Insider.

DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang is spearheading the move into traditional MCA seat Gelang Patah while party strategist Liew Chin Tong is eyeing the Kluang seat. Johor PKR chief Datuk Seri Chua Jui Meng has also been named for the Segamat seat held by MIC.

It is learnt that BN will use the race card in the strategy against Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) Chinese candidates, especially in the Umno bastion state of Johor where the coalition won 80 per cent of the Malay vote in Election 2008.

“The MCA stands zero chance of winning any battle with the DAP. So, we can definitely beat DAP with our Malay support and at least 25 per cent Chinese support,” another BN source told The Malaysian Insider.

The Sin Chew Chinese daily had reported this week that MCA will “lend” its seats to Umno in Election 2013, in what is seen as an acknowledgement that the BN Chinese party is not confident of winning its seats.

MCA won only 15 out of the 40 federal seats in contested in Election 2008. It has also said it was swapping the Tronoh seat in Perak with MIC, which also suffered major losses in the 2008 general election.

But the move has not gone down well with MCA grassroots, who fear they will not get back their seats in future elections and reduce their power in the ruling coalition.