JOHOR BARU: He may have gone up against heavyweights in the past but this time round, talk is rife that Johor Opposition chief Liew Chin Tong (pic) is eyeing a safe seat in GE15.
Liew may contest the Iskandar Puteri parliamentary seat, a seat adjoining his state seat of Perling.
The Iskandar Puteri seat, previously known as Gelang Patah, has been held by party veteran Lim Kit Siang for two terms. Lim had earlier announced his intention not to contest the elections.
During the 2008 general election, Liew, who was in his early 30s, defeated the then Gerakan secretary-general Datuk Seri Chia Kwang Chye for the Bukit Bendera parliamentary seat in Penang.
He also defeated Datuk Dr Hou Kok Chung, who was the then MCA vice-president, for the Kluang parliamentary seat in the 2013 general election.
Both Chia and Hou were deputy ministers during the two general elections.
However, in the 14th General Election (GE14), Liew was defeated by MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong for the Ayer Hitam parliamentary seat.
Sources said that as a researcher, Liew would always do his “political calculation” before deciding to contest an election.
They added that Liew was eyeing the safe seat of Iskandar Puteri because there were not many safe seats in Johor for DAP now.
“It will be a tough battle for DAP in GE15,” said the sources.
They also said, as the state DAP chief, Liew should be bold and “take on Dr Wee again in Ayer Hitam”.
Liew, who in July announced that he would be contesting a parliamentary seat, has so far been coy about whether he will contest in Iskandar Puteri.
In GE14, DAP won five out of the six seats they contested in Johor.
The party is expected to get an additional seat in this election.
Sources said that the party was expected to get the Mersing parliamentary seat.
At least 10 parliamentary seats contested by Bersatu are expected to be divided among the three major Pakatan Harapan parties, with PKR expected to get the lion’s share of the seats.
Other possible DAP candidates being talked about include Johor DAP vice-chairman Sheikh Omar Ali, who will contest in Ayer Hitam, and former Skudai assemblyman Tan Hong Pin, who will go for the Labis parliamentary seat.
Sources say that the party is also looking at the possibility of fielding Skudai assemblyman Marina Ibrahim for the Mersing parliamentary seat.
Johor has 26 parliamentary seats.
