The decision of BN top leaders to swap Tanah Rata - a state seat in Pahang contested by MCA - with another state seat Ketari, which belongs to Gerakan, has sparked strong objection from Gerakan grassroots in the constituency.

azlan Led by two-term Ketari assemblyperson Dr Ng Keong Chye and other state leaders, some 200 Gerakan members had held a rally in front of the party headquarters in Bentong yesterday afternoon.

At the rally, they unfurled a banner that read, "Gerakan will defend the Ketari state seat, we are fully against MCA taking Ketari".

Ng said he has met BN chairperson Najib Abdul Razak to express the desire of Gerakan members to defend the mixed seat under the Bentong parliamentary constituency.

According to Ng ( below ), Gerakan has held the constituency for nine terms, with the last two terms represented by himself.

"It has become our home, now people want to grab it, so of course the members will protest," he said.

NONE Yesterday, MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek had confimed that MCA will be exchanging Tanah Rata with Ketari.

Tanah Rata is a Chinese-majority seat under the parliamentary constituency of Cameron Highlands, which was won by independent candidate Ho Yip Kap with a wafer-thin majority of 575 votes in 2008 through a three-cornered fight with candidates from DAP and MCA.

Ho, a former MCA member, had joined Gerakan in 2010.

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