KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 2 — MCA has come to an agreement to exchange the Batu parliamentary seat in the Federal Territory with MIC.

MCA president Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong said the consensus was reached with Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi yesterday.

“According to MCA’s agreement, the Padang Serai parliamentary seat is handed over to MIC and the Batu parliamentary seat remains ours.

“All this is the result of discussions with the BN chairman. We need to clarify this situation to avoid confusion,” he said at a special press conference at Wisma MCA here today.

In the press conference, Datuk Seri Yew Teong Look was announced as the candidate for the Batu parliamentary seat.

Yesterday, Datuk A Kohilan Pillay was announced as the BN candidate for the Batu parliamentary seat at the BN candidate announcement.

In the last general election, the Batu parliamentary seat was won by an independent candidate supported by PKR, P Prabakaran with a majority of 24,438 votes in a four-cornered race, defeating Dominic Lau Hoe Chai from Barisan Nasional (BN), PAS candidate Azhar Yahya and another independent candidate, Datuk V.M. Panjamothy.

Meanwhile, Wee said MCA accepted the change of Wangsa Maju parliamentary candidate representative with an open heart after it was agreed by the BN leadership.

“The exchange is not an issue, we follow what has been discussed and accept this decision on the principle of friendship and will work hard to help achieve victory together,” he said.

In this GE, the Wangsa Maju parliamentary seat that was previously contested by MCA has been changed by the BN leadership by placing Umno candidate Shafie Abdullah.

Meanwhile, MCA is betting on 35 new faces out of a total of 70 candidates who will contest in GE15.

Wee said a total of 44 candidates were running for Parliamentary seats while 26 candidates were for state seats.

“Among the 44 candidates for Parliamentary seats, 17 new faces and seven women were introduced. In fact, two of our candidates are under 30 years old who will represent the Ampang parliamentary and Kulai parliamentary seats respectively.

“This is a balanced composition. 50 per cent of the nominations are new faces who will join hands with other candidates to ensure hard work with other component parties to gain support,” he said.

Wee said that for the 26 state seats, 17 candidates were introduced in Perak, seven in Pahang and two in Perlis.

“At the state level, there will be a total of 18 new faces and five women candidates,” he said. — Bernama