BENTONG – With nomination day set for tomorrow, a literal face-off seems to be taking place in the town centre, here.
Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) newly-launched elections machinery station sits just across the street from MCA’s district headquarters, which has been a staple in the neighbourhood since the late 1990s.
According to DAP’s Bentong candidate Young Syefura Othman, the choice of location was made simply due to the shoplot’s proximity to the people here.
“Being here allows us better access to the people, since the locals frequent many of the shops here,” she told The Vibes when met at the launch of the coalitions’ elections machinery centre.
“We are renting the lot for two weeks, for now, but we will consider making it our permanent base if we secure Bentong.”
She added that DAP’s Bentong division headquarters, located just down the road from PH’s fresh elections war room, was unsuitable for election-related events.
“(DAP’s Bentong division headquarters) occupies the upper story of a shoplot, so it would be difficult to hold events with many people there.”
Meanwhile, Bentong MCA division chairman Datuk Seri Hoh Khai Mun said that the coalition is free to set up its elections operation centre wherever it deems fit.
“(PH) can open their (elections machinery room) wherever they want,” he told The Vibes after attending a division meeting here.
“Even though their (elections machinery) centre is across from us, it won’t affect or influence voters.
“We were bound to face off anyways since candidates always run into each other during their walkabouts visiting voters.”
Prior to the 2018 general elections, the Barisan Nasional (BN) component party had reigned uninterrupted in Bentong under the helm of Tan Sri Liow Tiong Lai for four terms.
The former MCA president had suffered defeat at the hands of DAP’s Wong Tack, whose majority of just over 2,000 votes ended Liow’s dominance over the parliamentary constituency.
Liow, who will be attempting to regain his seat here, is set to go against Young, whose possible win will make her Bentong’s first female MP.
Nominations day, scheduled for tomorrow, will determine whether Wong will be trying to wrest the seat as an independent candidate after DAP’s decision to drop him for Young.
Malaysia will vote for a new government on November 19. – The Vibes, November 4, 2022
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