Wong Nai Chee, the political secretary to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, said he was only following orders in contesting the parliamentary seat of Alor Gajah in the coming polls.

According to Chinese daily Nanyang Siang Pau, Wong said MCA had instructed him to contest there and the decision was endorsed by BN's top leadership.

As such, the report said Wong, who is an appointed MCA central committee member, was merely complying with the instruction and did not expect such an uproar.

"MCA president Liow Tiong Lai (below) had already said that this was an unavoidable reshuffle that happened every five years," he was quoted as saying.

MCA has proposed to move its incumbent Alor Gajah MP Koh Nai Kwong to the state seat of Machap in order to make way for Wong.

This prompted a revolt in the local BN community, which on Thursday organised a 400-strong rally in support of Koh.

They had also flooded Liow's Facebook page with angry comments, threatening to vote against any other BN candidate who is placed there.

MCA won Alor Gajah with the largest majority out its seven parliamentary seats in the last general election making it the party's safest seat.

In contrast, MCA narrowly captured the Machap state seat with a 152-vote majority.

DAP, which has contested and lost in Alor Gajah in the last three general elections, will cede the seat to its Pakatan Harapan ally Bersatu for the 14th general election.

DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke has expressed confidence that Bersatu will pose the strongest threat to MCA in the Malay-majority constituency.