Anisah Shukry The Malaysian Insider May 27, 2014
The DAP yesterday took a swipe at the Barisan Nasional’s (BN) candidate for the Teluk Intan by-election, saying the more he loses, the more he returns with better promises for the constituency.
“Mah said that if he wins, he would bring more development. We want to ask him, he was Teluk Intan MP for two terms and was even the deputy minister, why didn’t he develop Teluk Intan then?
“Why didn’t he say he wanted to have the Leaning Tower of Teluk Intan listed in Unesco then? Only now he says it, after he has lost. If this is the case, he must lose more, so he promises more,” said DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, in reference to Gerakan president Datuk Mah Siew Keong.
Mah won the Teluk Intan seat in the 1999 and 2005 general elections, before losing it to DAP‘s M. Manogaran in 2008 and to the late Seah Leong Peng in 2013.
He unveiled his manifesto for the Saturday’s by-election yesterday, zeroing in on the constituency’s growth and development and promising a stadium, a university and increased tourism appeal for Teluk Intan.
Mah told reporters that his promises were on a larger scale because he was taking advantage of the fact that it was a by-election and the entire country was focussed on Teluk Intan.
“Before, when he won, when he was deputy minister, he did not do this. So now we ask him to not lie to us anymore. Fulfil your promises first, then we will consider,” Lim told some 3,000 people at a ceramah in Anson Industrial Park, Teluk Intan, last night.
“He will say, how can I fulfil the promises if I lose? It is possible. If he doesn’t win this May 31, he can still be a minister. Even if he says he will not accept the ministership, do not believe him.”
Lim said former Gerakan President Koh Tsu Koon made a similar promise in the 2008 national polls, only to be appointed as senator and made minister for four years after he lost that general election, adding that Mah had also broken a promise when campaigning to become Gerakan president last year.
“If Mah loses, don’t worry. He will still be a minister because he is the president of Gerakan. Even if he denies he will accept the ministership, we still remember his promise when he was contesting his party presidency.
“He said if he wins the Gerakan presidency, he would not contest in anymore elections. But he is contesting this by-election,” said Lim.
He said Teluk Intan voters should allow Mah to become a minister “through the back door” and hold him accountable to all the promises included in his manifesto.
“Once he becomes minister, we will tell him to do his work. Only then will we believe that he will bring him the development that he has promised,” added Lim.
Meanwhile, DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang told the same crowd last night Mah’s manifesto was worthless without the backing of BN.
“Today, Mah unveiled his manifesto for the Teluk Intan by-election. But what is this manifesto? Is it his own? Is it Gerakan’s? Or is it BN-Umno’s manifesto?
“If this was Mah’s manifesto, or Gerakan’s, what is the use of it? It is not worth the ink it is written with. It is not worth the paper it is written on,” said Kit Siang.
He challenged Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to come forward and declare that the manifesto was that of the BN-Umno government’s, and all the promises would be fulfilled. – May 27, 2014.