SUNGUT SIPUT, Feb 20 — Wanita Gerakan chief Datuk Tan Lian Hoe has been picked as the candidate for the Jalong state seat here in the 14th General Election (GE14).

Party president Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong said he placed full trust and confidence in Tan to recapture the seat won by the DAP in GE13.

He said the Jalong state seat was a Gerakan seat although the party lost it (in GE13) with quite a large majority.

“Nevertheless, we have been serving Jalong over the last four years and she (Tan) has always worked hard to win back the hearts of voters in the area.

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"We have the confidence to recapture the seat. Through the spirit and cooperation among Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties, I'm sure we have a bright chance and the seat will be BN's again," added Mah, who is also plantation industries and commodities minister.

He was speaking to reporters after attending the Chinese New Year Celebration Open House organised by the Perak Gerakan here.

The event was also attended by Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir and 3,000 others.

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Mah said he had handed the name of the candidate for the seat to Datuk Seri Najib Razak and left it entirely to the prime minister as BN chairman to pick Gerakan candidates for GE14.

Tan is a former Gerik and Bukit Gantang MP and had served as information deputy minister and domestic trade, cooperatives and consumerism deputy minister.

In GE13, the Jalong seat was won by DAP’s Loh Sze Yee who defeated BN candidate Liew Yew Aw with a majority of 6,769 votes while the Sungai Siput parliamentary seat is now held by Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj from PKR.

However, Lintang which is represented by Datuk Dzolkafly Harun from BN was won with a majority of 3,977 votes. — Bernama