MP SPEAKS | I am really surprised by the low standards and expectations of MCA leaders as the party nears 60 in their reaction to the results in the Balakong by-election.
Wee Ka Siong, MCA's sole parliamentary survivor in the 14th general election and master campaigner in the Balakong campaign, claimed the outing was a success because MCA had gained a higher percentage of support compared to the May 9 election.
Wee said MCA earned a higher percentage of support – 15 percent compared to the 10.9 percent it obtained for the state seat in GE14.
This is really pathetic.
One option MCA should really consider is to close shop if the best it can do is to keep its deposit (or secure 12.5 percent of total votes cast) with PAS' help. This means that without PAS' help, the MCA candidate would have lost his deposit in the by-election!
What a fall from MCA’s height and halcyon days when it had four ministers, 31 MPs, 76 assemblypersons and thousands of local councillors and ketua kampungs, to its pathetic present with MCA fighting to keep its deposit, and only with the help of PAS.
I congratulate Wong Siew Ki for her sterling victory in the Balakong by-election, all the more significant for increasing DAP’s vote share from 77.53 percent in GE14 to 84.99 percent last night, despite a 43 percent voter turnout, the lowest in the history of by-elections in the country.
Will MCA members reject alliance?
The Balakong by-election results have confirmed my analysis that a MCA-Umno-PAS unholy alliance will only result in PAS and Umno making use of MCA to “borrow a corpse to resurrect the soul” and try to recover from their abject defeats in GE14.
It is very significant that in neither the Balakong nor Seri Setia by-election campaigns, this unholy alliance said a word to condemn or repudiate the corruption and abuses of power of the previous Najib Abdul Razak government – in particular, the international 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal, which had given Malaysia the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of being a global kleptocracy.
This shows the real character and purpose of their unholy alliance, whose formation was given a great push in the Balakong and Seri Setia by-elections.
MCA leaders, delegates and members must now decide whether to go through with this new pact, and condemn the present party leaders for their unholy alliance with PAS in the Balakong by-election, or to break totally not only with PAS but also with Umno – unless all three parties are prepared to fully reform and condemn the corruption, abuses of power and injustices of the Najib administration.
I also congratulate Halimey Abu Bakar for his victory in the Seri Setia by-election, polling 13,725 votes to beat PAS’ candidate Dr Halimah Ali with 9,698 votes.
LIM KIT SIANG is DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri.
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