This means that the incumbent, Wong Tack, will not get to defend the constituency, having defeated former MCA president Liow Tiong Lai in Bentong in the last general election (GE14) in 2018.
DAP secretary-general Loke Siew Fook also announced three other candidates for parliamentary seats in Pahang, namely Tengku Zulpuri Shah Raja Puji in Lipis, Chiong Yoke Kong (Cameron Highlands), and Chow Yu Hui (Raub).
Tengku was previously the MP for Raub, while Chiong and Chow were the Tanah Rata and Tras assemblymen, respectively.
“We are putting forth these new faces, but they also have experience working in their respective constituencies,” Loke said at a press conference at DAP’s headquarters here.
“We want Rara (Young Syefura) to be DAP’s first female Malay MP,” he added.
DAP vice-national chairman Teresa Kok said fielding Young Syefura was a strategic move due to the racial composition of the constituency.
“In Bentong, Malays make up 50.6% of the population, Chinese 38.9%, Indians 9.5%, others 1.8%. So it’s actually a mixed seat with Malays making up the biggest portion.
“So it’s justifiable and strategically correct to field a Malay female candidate. We want to promote more women to decision-making level positions for the nation and in Parliament,” the incumbent Seputeh MP said.
Loke also said he will be acting as a mentor for the candidates for Lipis, Cameron Highlands and Raub, while Kok will do likewise for Young Syefura.
Wong had defeated former MCA president Liow Tiong Lai for the Bentong seat in GE14 by more than 2,000 votes. He previously lost to Liow in GE13 in 2013.
Umno’s Abdul Rahman Mohamad won the Lipis seat against Bersatu’s Badarudin Abd Rahaman and PAS’ Sobirin Duli with a 6,569 majority.
Tengku Zulpuri, a DAP deputy secretary-general, won in Raub with a majority of 3,159 votes against MCA’s Chew Mei Fun and PAS’ Nilam Abdul Manap.
MIC’s C Sivarraajh won the Cameron Highlands seat in GE14, but an election court annulled the victory and ruled that his election campaign involved vote-buying.
Umno’s Ramli Mohd Nor won the ensuing by-election in 2019, beating DAP’s M Manogaran and two independent candidates by over 3,000 votes, and became the country’s first Orang Asli MP.
Loke also announced that DAP will contest eight state seats in Pahang, and that the candidates will be named next week.
Malaysians will go to the polls for GE15 on Nov 19, with early voting set for Nov 15. Nominations will be on Nov 5.
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