KOTA KINABALU: Sabah MCA is gearing up to win back the Kepayan and Luyang state seats which it lost to DAP in the 2013 general election.

Sabah MCA chairman Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong, who is also the national MCA deputy president, said the two seats were crucial to focus on, and there was much preparation to be done in order to win them back in the next general election.

"I held a meeting with MCA members from these two areas today and we discussed on ways to win back our voters," he said after chairing a meeting with the Sabah MCA liaison committee here on Sunday.

He said there was a need to go down to the grassroots more and be more aggressive in the party's quest to win the two seats.

Dr Wee added that among the measures planned was to track down old MCA members to be part of a stronger machinery to face the next general election.

The Kepayan state seat was won by DAP's Edwin Bosi while Luyang was won by Dr Hiew King Cheu in 2013.

However, Hiew joined MCA in 2014, 10 months after quitting DAP and becoming a Barisan Nasional-friendly independent.

On whether MCA will be requesting for one of the 13 new seats, particularly in the Silam parliamentary constituency in the coming election, Dr Wee said it was still too early to discuss it.

"We will leave it to our leadership to decide," he said, adding that MCA will be paying Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman a courtesy call before the state convention on Oct 8, to discuss the issue.

He added that the party would also talk with MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai about the new seats.

-The Star-