Political parties are now engaging in public squabbles over seat allocation, as expectations of an early general election run high.

In a statement to tan chai ho pc 200809 01 day, MCA treasurer-general Tan Chai Ho (left) slammed an Umno division for openly declaring that they hope a certain seat will be contested by the BN anchor party.

He said the matter has yet to be decided and announcing it offhand "can do serious damage" to the coalition.

"(The) coming general election will see BN and MCA pushed against the wall, and the allocation of every constituency seat must be resolved through internal negotiation or channels.

"Simply speaking out to the media without proper thinking can do serious damage to BN's work preparation and morale in the elections thus leading to unnecessary disputes and discords as well as creating drifters who seek to take advantage of BN only."

Tan said that by reportedly saying that it hopes to replace MCA in Wangsa Maju, Umno is attracting "unnecessary attention" to an issue which "should be ignored".

MCA under pressure

Wangsa Maju was contested by MCA in 2008 and 2004. MCA's Yew Teong Look won by a landslide of more than 10,000 votes in 2004, but lost by a razor thin 150 votes in 2008 to then PKR man Wee Choo Keong.

Wee has since left PKR to become an Independent lawmaker.

Slightly more than half of the constituents are Malays, followed by Chinese 38.3 percent, Indian 8 percent and others 1 percent.

MCA is under pressure to let go of the seats it previously contested, following a bad showing in 2008, with even Utusan Malaysia editor Zaini Hassan calling for Umno to take over in Malay majority areas in his controversial article ‘1Melayu 1Bumi' .