MyPPP president M Kayveas said he has waited 17 years for the right to contest the parliamentary seat of Cameron Highlands in Pahang.

He is now claiming the seat which he insisted was promised to him after it was created in the 2003 redelineation.

“If you know the origin of the Cameron Highlands seat, you will realise the seat should go back to MyPPP.

“The prime minister at that time, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, asked me to work in Cameron as early as 2000, so I have been working in that area since 2000.

“I still feel that rightfully, to be fair, I should go back to Cameron rather than asking for somebody else’s seat.

“I still hold that Cameron originally belonged to MyPPP and it was taken away by MIC manipulation,” he said, during an interview with Malaysiakini.

Delving into history, Kayveas said that in the 2004 general election, he was prepared to contest in Cameron Highlands under the BN banner, but was instead was sent to contest in Taiping following what he described as MIC “manipulation”.

“That was not the right move for me. I should have stayed away (from Taiping), but for the party’s sake (I contested in Taiping). We never had a seat,” he said.

The 63-year-old won Taiping in 2004, whereas MIC’s SK Devamany won Cameron Highlands.

When the 2008 elections came, he was told to defend his Taiping seat as he was seen to have done well there. However, he lost the seat, while Devamany held on to Cameron Highlands.

In 2013, Kayveas said he asked for the Cameron Highlands seat from then-MIC president G Palanivel, who agreed to give it to him.

“But at the 11th hour, Palanivel decided he wants to be the candidate at Cameron. We were told to decide among ourselves.

“I said okay, if you want the seat, I will wait for the 14th general election. We had an understanding, and with that understanding, I didn’t contest for a parliamentary seat in the 13th general election,” he said.

Palanivel went on to win Cameron Highlands in a closely-fought contest with DAP’s M Manogaran.

Najib informed

Kayveas has previously announced his intentions to contest in Cameron Highlands in the upcoming general election. However, he said he was unsure which ticket he would contest under if he was not nominated as the BN candidate.

When questioned on this, he revealed it was not his intention to ditch BN. What he had actually meant, he argued, was that Cameron Highlands is now an independent seat as its incumbent parliamentarian, Palanivel, was ousted from the party in 2015.

“The seat is an independent seat and as an independent seat, anyone can contest. It is not my intention to contest as an independent. If you are loyal, you are loyal to the party.

“I am not saying BN is a perfect party, but I think if you stand firm with one group, you should stick to them, you cannot abandon them,” Kayveas added.

He said he had informed Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who is also the BN chairperson, of his intention to contest in Cameron Highlands.

To show his commitment, Kayveas said he has been working in that area again in recent years, with his first programme there during the Ponggol celebrations in 2015.

MIC, on the other hand, has only assigned a coordinator in Cameron Highlands several months ago, he claimed.

As such, Kayveas said, he is very confident about his chances of being picked as BN’s Cameron Highlands candidate in GE14.

“I am very positive that the BN chairperson will decide very fairly and I have no doubts that Najib will make a very fair and correct decision. I have full confidence in him that he will let me contest in Cameron Highlands this time around.”