SHAH ALAM - Former PKR vice-president Tian Chua says he will defend his Batu seat won in 2013 despite being disqualified from contesting for the parliamentary seat during the 14th General Election (GE14).
He said PKR has a good chance of winning the Batu seat again in the coming general elections.
"I will defend Batu seat as I first contested for the seat in 2004, although I did not win, I will continue to serve the area and make sure it remains PKR's stronghold.
"If I were to be selected by the party to contest (in GE15), I will definitely do my best,” he told Sinar Daily.
The former PKR vice president added that he is the right candidate to lead Batu and PKR needs to work on its grassroot as well as continue to serve the community regardless of whether eventually is selected to contest the seat.
He said that the demography of Batu reflects the demography of Malaysia with nearly over 60 percent voters being Malays, 30 percent Chinese and the remaining are Indians.
"If you look at this demography, it is clearly like the miniature of Malaysia,” he said,
Commenting further, he believes that PKR is the most suitable party to represent the people of Batu seats due to their profile and political principle.
The PKR veteran was barred from contesting by the Election Commission (EC) due to a RM2,000 fine imposed for a court case in 2018. The decision was eventually overturned by the High Court in 2019.
He was found guilty by the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court in March, 2017 for using foul language.
Recently, he also appears to have a rift between PKR's Batu MP P Prabakaran after Tian Chua accused him of spreading false information through Twitter.
Prabakaran posted a picture showing Tian Chua attending a buka puasa event on April 24, further asking on why the former Batu MP was attending a feast organised by Bersatu, a rival to Pakatan Harapan.
It is to note that Tian Chua had clarified the matter on April 26, stating that the event was held at the Batu parliamentary constituency operations office, with Bersatu flags being put up.