KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 — MCA dismissed today the speculated involvement of controversial Umno leader Datuk Jamal Md Yunos in the June 18 Sungai Besar by-election.

The Barisan Nasional (BN) component’s president Datuk Seri Dr Liow Tiong Lai said the Sungai Besar Umno division chief has clarified that he has not been shortlisted as a candidate for the Selangor parliamentary seat.

“MCA has already channelled the Chinese community’s feelings,” he told reporters when asked how his political party could help the BN campaign if Jamal was nominated to run for office there.

Liow did not elaborate on the Chinese community’s sentiments.

“On the selection of candidates, Jamal himself has already announced that he is not in the shortlist of seven persons, so I believe this is not an issue,” he said.

Jamal courted controversy over his role as a leader of the “Red Shirts” movement that had been highly critical of Malaysia’s ethnic Chinese community in several past street rallies.

He was speculated to be a possible candidate for the Sungai Besar by-election, which could have potentially invited backlash from ethnic Chinese voters towards BN.

Yesterday, Jamal issued a statement reiterating that he was not interested in contesting the seat but pledged to give his full support to secure a bigger win for BN.

Liow also said today that MCA will engage with its many party members in Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar, where by-elections will be held simultaneously on June 18.

“We will work hard to win more Chinese votes this time,” he said, noting BN’s “underdog” status in these two areas.

Liow said there are about 13,000 and 7,800 ethnic Chinese voters in Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar.