BALAKONG POLLS | A good government needs a strong opposition to ensure that the people’s voices are heard, says MCA candidate for the Balakong by-election Tan Chee Teong.

He said a strong opposition would provide checks and balances to prevent the government from making a rash decision.

Citing the current situation at the Selangor Legislative Assembly with 51 assemblypersons from Pakatan Harapan and only five from the opposition, he said there was a big drop in the number of motions submitted for debate, according to a recent report in a Chinese daily.

“The reason given is that most of the state assemblypersons are new and do not know the proper procedures, apart from missing out the allotted time to submit the motions (to be debated).

“This is unacceptable, as it is the responsibility of the assemblypersons to submit motions to be debated.

"If they fail in this basic task, what else can they offer to the people who have elected them?” he asked at a press conference in Balakong today.

The Balakong state by-election on Sept 8 will see a straight fight between Tan and Harapan candidate Wong Siew Ki. 

The by-election was called following the death of incumbent DAP assemblyperson Eddie Ng in a road accident on July 20.

In the 14th general election, Ng beat out BN candidate Lim Chin Wah and PAS' Mohamad Ibrahim Ghazali with a majority of 35,538 votes.

- Bernama