Protest over BN's apparent plans to field Wong Nai Chee in place of incumbent MP Koh Nai Kwang for Malacca’s Alor Gajah parliamentary seat will likely come to naught because of Umno's clout among Malay voters.

The Alor Gajah parliamentary seat has a 59 percent Malay majority, followed by Chinese (27 percent) and Indians (13 percent).

In other words, to win in Alor Gajah, the candidate requires significant support of the Malay electorate which effectively meant that Umno, which has to canvass Malay votes, has a huge say in the choice of candidate.

Wong (photo below, left) is the special aide to Prime Minister and Umno president Najib Abdul Razak.

In 2013, Koh defeated DAP candidate Damian Yeo Shen Li with 11,597 majority votes, which was the highest majority among MCA's seven parliamentary seats.

Yeo told Malaysiakini that the incumbent Koh received, at most, 30 percent of the Chinese vote and it was the Malay voters who contributed to the latter's victory.

"In the three Felda areas (in Alor Gajah), DAP received virtually no votes,” he said. "Put it this way, it is supposed to be an Umno seat."

Up until 1999, Alor Gajah had been a battleground between PAS and Umno. BN had only handed the seat to MCA in 2004, leading to a contest between MCA and DAP up until the 2013 elections.

This time around, Pakatan Harapan has assigned Malay party Bersatu to field a candidate for the seat.

Koh supporters mount protest

Several Alor Gajah Umno leaders, when contacted, praised Koh (photo above, right) for his service but they also stressed that they will support the BN candidate, whoever this may be.

"This is an internal issue within MCA. (But) whoever is fielded by MCA for Alor Gajah, we have to work together to ensure the candidate's victory.

"However, at the same time, I surrender to the wisdom of MCA to make the decision (on the matter), as Koh has provided excellent service," said Durian Tunggal assemblyperson Ab Wahab Ab Latip.

An Umno Alor Gajah division women's wing leader, who wished to remain anonymous, also praised Koh for his hard work and said he was popular with the locals.

"(But) whoever the prime minister announces as the candidate, as (Umno) party members, we will support," she said.

Local MCA supporters had mounted a protest on Thursday following a news report on Koh's candidacy.

The report claimed that Koh would be relegated to a candidate for the state seat of Machap which MCA won with a slim 152-vote majority in 2013.