SEREMBAN: DAP Secretary-General Anthony Loke Siew Fook on Saturday confirmed that he will be defending the Seremban parliamentary seat in the 15th general election (GE15) while Negeri Sembilan DAP Secretary Cha Kee Sun will also defend Rasah.Loke said Negeri Sembilan DAP had finalised candidacy and machinery matters early, with preparations beginning two weeks before nomination day.
“We are ready to defend Seremban and Rasah. We not only want to win both seats, but we are also duty-bound to help our partners defend Port Dickson, Tampin and (capture) Kuala Pilah,” he said at the opening of the Rasah Parliament operations room here, Saturday.
Loke has held the Seremban seat for two terms and in GE14, he won with a 30,694 vote-majority against Barisan National (BN) candidate Chong Sin Woon and PAS’ Shariffuddin Ahmad.
Cha, meanwhile, defeated BN’s Ng Kian Nam, Mohd Khairil Anuar Mohd Wafa (PAS) and David Dass of the People’s Alternative Party (PAP) in GE14 with a 46,867 vote-majority.
On Pakatan Harapan (PH) Chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s announcement that Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun will be the coalition’s Port Dickson parliamentary candidate, Loke said the Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar was the right choice to succeed Anwar.
On Thursday, Anwar confirmed that he will be contesting the Tambun parliamentary seat in Perak.
The Election Commission has set Nov 19 for polling, while nomination is on Nov 5 and early voting is on Nov 15.
Meanwhile, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang said PH’s greatest challenge in the 15th general election is to make Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim Malaysia’s 10th Prime Minister.
He said it would take a “political miracle”, but did not discount the possibility that Malaysians would unite as they did it in the election four years ago when they voted out the BN coalition.
“To make Anwar Ibrahim the tenth Prime Minister of Malaysia is a tall order — equally or probably harder than toppling the Umno/BN political hegemony in the 14th general election (GE14).
“But if the Malaysian voters can perform a ‘political miracle’ in the GE14, they can perform another ‘political miracle’ in GE15 on November 19, 2022,” Lim said in a statement.
He also said the Sheraton Move that triggered the collapse of the PH government in 2020 was not a “complete failure” as former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak from Umno ended up in prison after being found guilty of embezzling RM42 million belonging to government investment fund SRC International Sdn Bhd.
