Reports two BN candidates not happy fake news - Idris Haron
MELAKA, April 24 (Bernama) -- News reports that two Barisan Nasional (BN) candidates are not happy with the state seats allocated for them in the 14th general election are fake news, said Melaka BN chairman Datuk Seri Idris Haron.
He said Datuk Koh Nai Kwong who was moved from the Alor Gajah parliamentary seat to Machap Jaya and Lee Chong Leng, the BN´s new face for Bandar Hilir , had their own reasons for not being present to receive their letters of offer (to be BN candidates) yesterday.
"They received their letters today. Datuk Koh (Nai Kwong) came yesterday (for the ceremony to present the letters to BN candidates for Melaka) but had to leave because of more pressing matters. Shaun (Lee) was taken by surprise on his candidacy and straightway went back to the constituency to get to know the work needed to be done.
"But the news reports were trying to paint a different picture. We will get to the bottom of this, the culprits will regret it, we have no issues, we are okay," he told reporters after presenting the letters of offer to be candidates to Koh and Lee at Seri Bendahara, Ayer Keroh here today.
Yesterday, a Mandarin newspaper and a pro-opposition portal had reported that Koh was not happy with the change while Lee fled after his name was announced as a candidate.
Meanwhile, Koh, who is also Alor Gajah MCA chief , said that after discussing his candidacy with Idris yesterday morning, he asked for a 24-hour break to discuss the change with the division´s members.
"They asked me to accept the nomination for Machap Jaya, and with their full backing, I accepted the offer. The Chief Minister also asked me to work with him to develop Melaka. I also received many calls asking me to contest in the state seat, " he said.
As for Lee, he said that he felt honoured to be chosen as the candidate for Bandar Hilir and that reports to the contrary were fake news.
"No, no (I did not make any protests), yesterday I had some other matters to attend. I am proud and thankful to be given this opportunity to serve the people and the feedback from the ground shows voters want a BN candidate to represent them," he said.
In GE13, MCA´s Datuk Lai Meng Chong won Machap, now known as Machap Jaya for BN by a majority of 152 votes while DAP´s Tey Kok Kiew took the Bandar Hilir seat with a majority of 7,952 votes.
-- BERNAMA
