PETALING JAYA: Although MCA has announced that it wants to field a candidate for the Tanjung Piai by-election, the alpha and decision-maker in Barisan Nasional (BN) is still clearly Umno, said a political analyst.
The by-election, the ninth after the 14th general election, was called after incumbent Datuk Dr Md Farid Md Rafik, 42, died of heart complications on Sept 21.
The seat has been traditionally contested by MCA and DAP since 2004. In 2018, DAP gave the seat to Bersatu to contest under its Pakatan Harapan campaign.
“If Umno is keen on putting up its own candidate in Tanjung Piai, then it is most likely its wish would prevail over that of MCA,“ senior fellow of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, Dr Oh Ei Sun, told theSun.
He also said it was unlikely that Umno and MCA would both field candidates, as that would split the votes which would have otherwise gone to BN.
“Similarly, independents who were fielded by losing political parties usually don’t garner a lot of votes unless they’re the local’s favourite son or daughter. I don’t think there’s a potential candidate like that (in Tanjung Piai),” he said.
Meanwhile, independent political analyst Khoo Kay Peng said the recently signed pact between Umno and PAS would influence the choice of the BN candidate.
However, he said it was likely that Umno would push for their candidate to contest in order to gauge the level of support for the joint charter, that was signed on Sept 14.
“Judging by the sentiment, you probably can understand why Umno is pushing for their candidate. They want to build on the momentum and they want to touch on the pact,” Khoo said.
“What better way than to try it in the Tanjung Piai by-election?”
He also said it was unlikely for Umno and MCA to field one candidate each should there be a fallout in candidate negotiations, as BN has been around for 40-odd years and is a solid coalition.
“The give-and-take culture among BN component parties is quite proven,” he said.
Khoo added that fielding an independent by the losing political party will be insignificant as an independent candidate normally does not have much impact.
“In the end, it is all up to the MCA leadership.
“If they accept the tradeoff clearly, I don’t think there will be a problem,” he said.
Oh and Khoo were commenting on news that leaders of both parties had separately announced that they want the seat.
Umno secretary-general Tan Sri Annuar Musa recently said BN would announce its candidate a week before nomination day, on Oct 26 or 27.
Nomination day has been set for Nov 2 while polls are slated for Nov 16.
