Wanita Gerakan chief to contest in Jalong

IPOH: National Wanita Gerakan chief Datuk Tan Lian Hoe will contest the Jalong state seat in the next general election.
The DAP's Loh Sze Yee is the incumbent in the seat, which falls under the Sungai Siput parliamentary constituency. Lintang, the other state seat in the constituency, is held by Barisan Nasional's Datuk Mohd Zolkafly Harun.
Tan said she was not new to Jalong and had worked as a teacher in the area.
"I still have a house here so that I can look into the problems faced by the people," she told reporters after attending the Pusat Aktiviti Warga Emas (PAWE) Chinese New Year celebration at the Urban Transformation Centre here today.
Tan said she had started working the ground and among the issues raised included those on basic infrastructure, problems faced by the elderly and single mothers.
Tan worked as a senior assistant at Sekolah Menengah Shing Chung in1984 before she was transferred to Sekolah Menengah Toh Muda Abdul Aziz as a senior teacher in 1997.
She then went back to the SM Shing Shung in 2003 before she resigned to contest in the 2004 general election.
Tan won the Bukit Gantang parliament seat, and later won the Grik parliament seat and was appointed a deputy minister.
In the 13th general election she contested for the Taiping parliament seat and lost to Perak DAP chairman Nga Kor Ming.
Tan said the wing had submitted eight women candidates to the party leadership to be considered as candidates.
Gerakan failed to win any seats in the 2013 general election in Perak. The party unsuccessfully contested in Teluk Intan, Taiping, Beruas parliament constituencies and Aulong, Canning, Jalong and Kuala Sepetang state seats.
However Gerakan president Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong managed to wrest the Teluk Intan seat in a by-election in 2014 against DAP's Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud.

The party only managed to win one parliament and three state seats throughout the country in the last general election.