Speculation is rife that Senator S Ramakrishnan may take on MCA chief Dr Chua Soi Lek's son, Tee Yong, for the parliament seat.
JOHOR BHARU: Johor DAP is likely to field two Indian candidates in the Segamat and Labis parliamentary constituencies in the next general election.
This is part of Pakatan Rakyat’s strategy in gaining more support from Indian voters in the state.
Senator S Ramakrishnan has been shortlisted for Labis whereas for Segamat, a businessman from Johor Bharu is being favoured by the state leadership headed by Dr Boo Cheng Hau.
Party insiders told FMT that the DAP leadership had endorsed 10 Indian candidates for the coming election compared with only eight in the last election.
Ramakrishnan, 52, would be challenging incumbent Chua Tee Yong, the son of MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek.
The Taiping-born accountant had been attending several functions over the last few months in Labis and its surrounding areas as part of his efforts to introduce himself “unofficially” to the voters.
When met recently, Ramakrishnan declined to confirm his candidency but admitted that he had been frequening Labis.
“It is too early for me to say anything since the party leadership has not finalised the list yet,” he added.
Several local DAP members in Labis and Cha’ah told FMT that the candidate’s race was not an issue as long as he or she could serve the constituents well and usher in development.
“Look at towns like Muar and Batu Pahat, they have developed but Labis has remained the same for the last 30 years,” said a retired headmaster, who declined to be named.
The Labis parliamentry seat has two state seats (Tenang and Bekoh) with nearly 50 % of its voters being Chinese, followed by Malays 35% and Indians 15%.
Meanwhile, DAP chairman Karpal Singh said the party had more or less decided to field an Indian candidate for the Labis seat.
“For Segamat however with the high percentage of Chinese voters there, it’s better to field a Chinese candidate,” he added but declined to name the candidate.
The state party leadership had also proposed to the central excutive committee (CEC) that at least two or three Indian candidates be allowed to contest for state assembly seats.
In a related development, Segamat incumbent MP and MIC deputy president S Subramaniam would likely step aside for a new face from Umno to contest the seat.
Local leaders had been speculating that Umno would swap the seat with MIC, and this would see Subramaniam contesting in Malacca or Negeri Sembilan.
JOHOR BHARU: Johor DAP is likely to field two Indian candidates in the Segamat and Labis parliamentary constituencies in the next general election.This is part of Pakatan Rakyat’s strategy in gaining more support from Indian voters in the state.
Senator S Ramakrishnan has been shortlisted for Labis whereas for Segamat, a businessman from Johor Bharu is being favoured by the state leadership headed by Dr Boo Cheng Hau.
Party insiders told FMT that the DAP leadership had endorsed 10 Indian candidates for the coming election compared with only eight in the last election.
Ramakrishnan, 52, would be challenging incumbent Chua Tee Yong, the son of MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek.
The Taiping-born accountant had been attending several functions over the last few months in Labis and its surrounding areas as part of his efforts to introduce himself “unofficially” to the voters.
When met recently, Ramakrishnan declined to confirm his candidency but admitted that he had been frequening Labis.
“It is too early for me to say anything since the party leadership has not finalised the list yet,” he added.
Several local DAP members in Labis and Cha’ah told FMT that the candidate’s race was not an issue as long as he or she could serve the constituents well and usher in development.
“Look at towns like Muar and Batu Pahat, they have developed but Labis has remained the same for the last 30 years,” said a retired headmaster, who declined to be named.
The Labis parliamentry seat has two state seats (Tenang and Bekoh) with nearly 50 % of its voters being Chinese, followed by Malays 35% and Indians 15%.
Meanwhile, DAP chairman Karpal Singh said the party had more or less decided to field an Indian candidate for the Labis seat.
“For Segamat however with the high percentage of Chinese voters there, it’s better to field a Chinese candidate,” he added but declined to name the candidate.
The state party leadership had also proposed to the central excutive committee (CEC) that at least two or three Indian candidates be allowed to contest for state assembly seats.
In a related development, Segamat incumbent MP and MIC deputy president S Subramaniam would likely step aside for a new face from Umno to contest the seat.
Local leaders had been speculating that Umno would swap the seat with MIC, and this would see Subramaniam contesting in Malacca or Negeri Sembilan.
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