He alleged that Wee, who is MCA’s deputy president, “jumped“ in panic when the Malaysian Insight reported that DAP would contest in the Barisan Nasional stronghold, which is a Malay-majority constituency. The report was based on an interview with an unnamed source.
Wee’s reaction to the report was, “Bring it on,” a remark that Liew dismissed as mere bravado.
Wee also taunted DAP for working with Amanah, saying some of its members supported hudud. Liew interpreted that remark and similar outbursts as signs that the MCA man was in a state of panic.
“I was wondering why he is suddenly so panicky, and then I realised that he has never been seriously challenged,” he told FMT. “All of a sudden, we are bringing the battlefield to his doorstep.”
Analyses of previous election results have shown that MCA won comfortably in Ayer Hitam due to support from Malays, who make up 57.57% of the area’s population. Chinese account for 38.43% and Indians 4%.
Wee has been the MP for Ayer Hitam for three terms, but his majority steadily declined from 15,763 in the 2004 election to 13,909 in 2008 to 7,310 in 2013. He fought against PAS in all three elections.
Liew did not confirm whether DAP would contest in Ayer Hitam, but he acknowledged that Pakatan was “not 100% certain” of winning the seat.
However, he laughed off a recent MCA statement that indicated its confidence in facing the coming election, saying the party “seemed to think” it could win 20 parliament seats.
Since 2008, the support from the Chinese community for MCA has been diminishing. In 2013, it won just seven parliamentary constituencies, in all of which Chinese voters were in the minority. Four of them – Tanjung Malim, Alor Gajah, Ayer Hitam and Tanjong Piai – were Malay-majority seats.