Charles Hector
Who decided on the BN candidate?
The announcement was made by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin at the BN command centre in Bukit Sentosa at 5.05pm.
Muhyiddin said Kamalanathan’ s candidacy was decided by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak after discussion with MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu- New Straits Times, 15/4/2010, P. Kamalanathan is BN’s candidate in Hulu Selangor
Was it MIC who decided on the candidate? Or was it just the UMNO No. 1 and No. 2 that decided. Should it not have been the MIC, being a component party of the BN, that decided on the candidate?
The NST Report states the following:-
* Prime Minister Najib decided….
* There was some discussion with the MIC President (so they talked…and Samy said that he wants B as the candidate… and then what… Najib went away and decided on K – and Samy had no choice but to just accept PM’s decision…, and guess what the candidate is already so beholding to Najib…and wants to give him a ‘gift’…. – no mention about thanking Samy…or the MIC Central Committee for chosing him, and this is interesting)
Meanwhile, Kamalanathan, 44, said he would do his best to wrest the seat for the BN as a present from the MIC to Najib.
“The candidate this time is not just a BN canidate but a 1Malaysia candidate. We hold true to the 1Malaysia concept and we will strengthen 1Malaysia in Hulu Selangor,” he told reporters.
Thanking Najib, Muhyiddin and the other BN components leaders for their trust in him, he said he would not let the coalition down.
“In the BN, normally if we want to clean up, we start at the hulu (upstream). We start from Hulu Selangor to clean up Selangor. We will bring back Selangor to the BN,” he said. – New Straits Times, 15/4/2010, P. Kamalanathan is BN’s candidate in Hulu Selangor
Reasonably, one would have first thanked the President and Central Committee of the MIC, then the leaders of the BN component parties [for surely any of the BN component parties could have black-balled the candidate].. ..
Wait, were the BN component parties even consulted —- or were they just informed of the Najib’s decision, and ask to attend the media event… I wonder.
How does Pakatan Rakyat…the Opposition parties decide on the candidates? I wonder….