KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 — DAP will field Young Syefura Othman in the Bentong parliamentary seat.
She is among four DAP incumbents who will be contesting in Pahang for the coming 15th general election (GE15), said party secretary-general Anthony Loke.
“We have decided to field Young Syefura in Bentong as she has served in Pahang for five years as an assemblyman in the Ketari seat.
“She has the experience to contest the seat,” Like told reporters today during a press conference at the DAP headquarters.
Incumbent Wong Tack has served as the DAP MP for Bentong for two terms.
When asked about the change in candidates, Loke said the party wanted Wong to contest in Cameron Highlands but he had declined.
“I met him, and we spoke for three hours. He said to give him 24 hours to consider, and in the end, this was his decision.
“We are running on a tight timeline, so we have to make a choice and move on,” said Loke.
DAP will instead field Chiong Yoke Kong who has fought for issues, including the welfare of local farmers and environmental issues, when he was the Tanah Rata assemblyman.
“Chiong has in the past fought for many issues related to welfare of farmers in Cameron Highlands. He is the most suitable candidate for the parliamentary seat.
“He was ready to give way if Wong Tack had agreed to stand for the seat,” added Loke.
The two other incumbents who will contest Pahang parliamentary seats are DAP’s deputy secretary-general Tengku Zulpuri Shah Raja Puji for Lipis and Chow Yu Hui for Raub.
“DAP will contest an addition parliamentary seat this GE15. It was decided by the PH leadership council that DAP will be given this responsibility to win the Lipis seat.
“Lipis is an Umno stronghold, so we have decided to also field a strong candidate from DAP and that is Tengku Zulpuri.
“Tengku Zulpuri will also contest a state seat in Pahang. He is the only one who will contest two seats in Pahang. As for which seat, I will announce next week,” said Loke.
Tengku Zulpuri is the incumbent Raub MP and will likely face Umno’s Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Mohamad.
Abdul Rahman retained his seat in Lipis when he obtained a two-fold majority in the 14th general election, a better performance compared to the 13th general election (GE13).
He faced a three-cornered contest against PH’s Badarudin Abd Rahman and won with a majority of 6,569 votes.
In GE13, Abdul Rahman won by a 3,469-vote majority.
