KUALA LUMPUR – Former PKR vice-president Chua Tian Chang will in all likelihood be contesting in the Batu constituency as an independent candidate, after he was overlooked by his party for the federal seat.
A source who spoke on condition of anonymity said, barring any last-minute changes, the public can almost certainly expect to see Chua file his nomination paper tomorrow morning.
“Chua has set his sights on regaining the seat. He wants to win it back after being disqualified from contesting in the last election. But a lot can happen between now and tomorrow morning.
“I think we will get a confirmation by then,” the insider said today.
When contacted, PKR information chief Fahmi Fadzil said he has not heard such talk, but affirmed that if this turns out to be true, the party will attempt to talk Chua out of contesting.
“It’s not something we would be quiet about, we won’t sit on it. I’d imagine the leadership will speak with him and try to convince him that the bigger picture is not Batu alone, but to capture Putrajaya.
“I hope that if there’s been any attempt to reach out to Chua, and if whatever rumours we are hearing are substantiated, there’s time to think of alternatives.”
If Chua does show up tomorrow for nomination, Batu promises for an even more intriguing contest, with at least eight candidates having previously confirmed to be vying in the already crowded seat.
Among those who will be contesting include PKR incumbent P. Prabakaran, MIC vice-president Datuk A. Kohilan Pillay, and Gerak Independent’s Siti Kasim.
Candidates from PAS, Warisan, Pejuang, Parti Rakyat Malaysia, as well as one other independent hopeful will also be vying in the constituency.
Yesterday, rumours of the possibility of Chua making a comeback surfaced after he appeared for a live talk show in which a poster for the event had listed him as a “calon” (candidate) for Batu.
However, when asked to confirm his candidacy, he remained coy, merely saying that he prefers not to talk about nomination “this early”.
Chua has been fighting to regain the Batu seat – which he won in 2008 and 2013 – since he was disqualified from contesting there in 2018 on the grounds of a technicality.
However, PKR’s candidate announcement last Friday confirmed that the party will instead stick with its incumbent Prabakaran, the initially independent candidate who later contested under PKR’s banner in 2018 after Chua’s disqualification.
Since Prabakaran was elected, the pair have shared a largely strenuous relationship, with animosity running high between the two leaders.
Chua’s axeing, as well as several other incumbents, was alleged to be part of an attempt to rid the party of leaders previously aligned to PKR renegade Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, although party leaders have since dismissed such a notion. – The Vibes, November 4, 2022
