Tanjung Piai: MCA postpones AGM, rues loss of time, money

MCA has decided to postpone its annual general meeting on Nov 2 and 3 in light of the Tanjung Piai by-election for which nomination day has been fixed for Nov 2.

MCA secretary-general Chong Sin Woon, who announced this, rued the inconvenience caused by the "coincidence".

"This uncanny coincidence of timing has caused great inconveniences to MCA, even incurring monetary losses as well as the loss of precious time due to the compensation and extra allocations needed in re-planning," he said in a statement today.

Chong (above) hoped that delegates to the AGM would be understanding about the circumstances.

Tanjung Piai has traditionally been contested by MCA although there are now calls for Umno to take over the seat.

Umno's general assembly from Nov 13 to 16 also coincides with the by-election for which polling day has been set for Nov 16.

The EC has denied any malice in regards to the dates chosen in response to criticism from MCA and Umno.

EC chief Azhar Harun explained that the commission had little choice but to choose the fixed dates so as to avoid an overlap with public holidays such as Deepavali on Oct 27.

"Any inconvenience is regretted," Azhar had said.

The Tanjung Piai parliamentary seat in Johor fell vacant following the death of its incumbent, former deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Department Dr Mohd Farid Mohd Rafik.

In GE14, Farid defeated MCA's two-term incumbent Wee Jeck Seng with a slim majority of 524 votes.

Farid bagged 21,255 votes against Wee's 20,731. The other candidate was PAS' Nordin Othman with 2,962 votes.