Simpalek New Village has a special place in Malaysian political electoral history, because it was in Simpalek during the Raub by-election in May 1983, that a MCA Deputy Minister had a misstep and fell into a drain, but he tried to exploit it to political advantage by accusing the DAP of instigating DAP members and supporters to push him the drain.

But there were photographs on record to show that nobody pushed the Deputy Minister into the drain.

After the ‘longkang’ incident, the Deputy Minjster went around Raub limping on a tongkat, except that he forgot which foot should be injured, and he was photographed limping on a different foot when going in and coming out of Simpalek new village MCA premises.

The MCA Deputy Minister’s falling into a drain and limping around on the foot which was supposed to be injured in the fall became the laughing stock in the by-election.

The DAP victory in the Raub by-election, which was one of the triple by-election victories after the Kepayang state assembly by-election in Perak and the Seremban parliamentary by-election in 18 months after the 1982 General Election marked the revival of DAP after a disastrous electoral performance in the first five general elections under Mahathir’s 22-year premiership which had used the gleaming slogan of ABC, “amanah, bersih and cekap”.

Now, the fourth and longest-serving Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir is on the same page with 44 other political and civil society leaders who collectively signed and proclaimed the Citizens’ Declaration to Save Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur on March 4, 2016 to demand removal of Datuk Seri Najib Razak as the Prime Minister and for meaningful democratic and institutional reforms.

This national campaign to Save Malaysia transcends race, religion, region or even political party.

A MCA Deputy Minister is slated to be a candidate in Raub in the next general election. She was defeated in PJ Utara parliamentary constituency in 2008, and rightly, she should return to PJ Utara as she should pick herself up from where she fell down.

Recently, MCA leaders have been making a lot of comments about the Citizens’ Declaration to Save Malaysia.

I invite all the MCA Ministers and Deputy Ministers to attend the People’s Congress on the Save Malaysia Citizens’ Declaration in Shah Alam on Sunday (27th March) to demonstrate their patriotism and love for Malaysia.

If the MCA Ministers and Deputy Ministers dare to attend the 27th March People’s Congress on the Save Malaysia People’s Declaration, the Congress convenor Datuk Zaid Ibrahim should have no problem in inviting one of their representatives to speak on their behalf at the Shah Alam event.

Do MCA Ministers and Deputy Ministers have the courage and conviction to demonstrate that they are prepared to transcend all racial, religious, regional and even political party interests and subordinate them to the larger national interest?

(Speech at the DAP Raub ceramah kopitiam in Simpalek New Village on Monday, 21st March 2016 at 4 pm)