The senator said the seat should ideally be contested by someone from his division, given that it was a Malay-majority seat.

Jefridin said those who insist that MCA should be allowed to continue fielding its candidate  because it was the party’s traditional seat should accept the reality that Umno stood a better chance of winning it in the March 12 state elections.

“It is not that Umno covets the seat. It is about making sure Barisan Nasional (BN) wrests back the Pekan Nanas seat from DAP, which has won it twice in a row,” Utusan Malaysia reported him as saying.

Jefridin said given the interest shown by Warisan in wanting to contest the seat as well, a winnable candidate from the right party from BN should be fielded. Under the current  circumstances, Umno is the best bet, he added.

He said the estimated 16,000 new Undi18 voters in the parliamentary constituency of Tanjung Piai, in which this state seat is located, could also see a major shift in the local political dynamics.

“Taking all these into account, I hope MCA gives way to Umno for it to field a winnable candidate and revive the glorious era of BN in Johor.”

The current Tanjung Piai MP, Wee Jeck Seng, from MCA, won the seat twice in the 2004 and 2008 general elections. DAP’s Yeo Tung Siong won the seat in the last two elections in 2013 and 2018.

Recently, Wee said the party hoped to contest the seat in the March 12 Johor elections.