Cameron Highlands DAP have issued a statement rejecting parachute candidates in the upcoming 14th general election.

The division DAP chief J Apalasamy said in a statement last night that this was to avoid the mistakes made in the last polls.

"As the local DAP chief, I would prefer a local candidate," he noted.

According to Apalasamy added that if a local candidate cannot be found, it would be better if DAP fielded a winnable candidate with a national appeal from one of its allies in Pakatan Harapan – but ideally, with the division's consent.

"Whoever the candidate is, my humble request to the party is to get the opinion of Cameron Highlands DAP," he said.

When contacted, Apalasamy said he simply wanted a local candidates for both the Cameron Highlands parliament seat and the Tanah Rata state seat.

In 2013, DAP fielded M Manogaran for Cameron Highlands, and state party chief Leong Ngah Ngah in Tanah Rata.

Manogaran lost to then-MIC president G Palanivel by a slim margin of 462 votes, while Leong won Tanah Rata with 3,144 votes.

Leong is speculated to leave Tanah Rata to contest the Raub parliamentary seat.

Apalasamy said neither Manogaran nor Leong knew much about locals, but did not apportion any blame as they were outsiders.

"For example, we don't expect Manogaran to stay here in Cameron to take care of the farmers, it does not make sense, he needs to earn a living also.

"Same for Leong, we don't blame him, he is a businessperson," he said.

He added that he wanted to avoid a situation where locals would say that DAP candidates had fled after winning their seats.