Three-corner fight in Bukit Gasing with Edward Lee’s son as independent

Ida Lim and Md Izwan, TMI

The Bukit Gasing state seat in Selangor will see a three-corner fight in Election 2013, with the son of its former representative Edward Lee Poh Lin (picture) to run as an independent candidate against DAP and the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

“I’ll be running as an independent,” Simon Lee Chung Hsin told The Malaysian Insider when contacted today.

Lee, who had previously aided his late father in his duties as the Bukit Gasing state assemblyman, is expected to officially announce his candidacy in a press conference next Thursday.

DAP publicity chief Tony Pua confirmed that Simon Lee would not be contesting under the party’s ticket as his late father did in Election 2008, where he defeated BN’s Datuk Dr Lim Thuang Seng in a massive win with a 8,812 majority.

“He will not contest on DAP’s ticket, he is an independent candidate,” Pua said.

Following Edward Lee’s death in 2011, no by-election was held, leading to DAP’s Subang Jaya state assemblyman Hannah Yeoh’s adoption of the Bukit Gasing seat.

Recently, The Malaysian Insider reported that DAP would likely field first-timer outsider Kasthuri Rani Patto, the daughter of late DAP hero P. Patto, in the Chinese-majority seat in Petaling Jaya.

She had said that Edward Lee’s impact continues to be felt, highlighting the “Save Bukit Gasing” campaign which he had started together with local residents in an effort to protect the Klang Valley green lung from development.

BN is seeking to regain Selangor, one of the five states that the federal opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) took over in Election 2008.

PR currently holds 36 seats out of the 56 state seats and 17 out of the 22 parliamentary seats in the country’s richest state.