JOHOR BARU, Mar 18 – The Johor Barisan Nasional (BN) is prepared to defend four parliamentary seats currently held by MCA, namely Ayer Hitam, Tebrau, Labis and Tanjung Piai, in the 14th general election (GE-14).
Its chairman, Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, who is also Menteri Besar, said all BN component parties would work together to ensure that the seats would not fall into the hands of the opposition, especially DAP.
“The BN machinery, especially Umno, are in full state of preparedness to face DAP and would give strong support to MCA candidates. What is predicted by Invoke Malaysia (through its survey) is not something easy for DAP to achieve.
“We are confident that not only will BN win, but Umno as the main party in BN, will also ensure MCA will retain the seats and win with a bigger majority against DAP,” he told reporters after officiating the RM2.1 million Sabah Solidarity Market here today.
Mohamed Khaled said this in response to the PKR think tank, Invoke Malaysia’s predictions that MCA would be the most adversely affected party in Johor in the GE14 and would fail to defend the Labis, Tanjung Piai and Tebrau parliamentary seats.
Meanwhile, on the market at Jalan Suria 66, Bandar Seri Alam, near Masai, Mohamed Khaled said it would benefit the people, especially about 20,000 Sabahans residing around Masai and Pasir Gudang.
He said the market, built with an allocation of RM1.1 million from the state government and RM1 million from the Pasir Gudang Municipal Council, comprised 40 units of shops including 15 outlets run by traders from the Sabah community.
“The construction of this market proves that the state government has always accepted anyone who contributes to the development of the state,” he said. — Bernama
