Since Nomination Day on Sunday, I have just made a tour of the Sungai Besar and the Kuala Kangsar constituencies where parliamentary by-elections are underway caused by the tragic helicopter crash during the Sarawak state general elections.
In both constituencies, the AMANAH/Pakatan Harapan candidate started as the underdog in the three-cornered fight in Sungai Besar and the four-cornered fight in the Kuala Kangsar by-elections, but after four days of the by-election campaigns, it is clear that the contest is between UMNO/BN and AMANAH/PH candidates, as a vote for the PAS candidate in both constituencies would be a wasted vote with no chance whatsoever for the PAS candidate to win in either one of the two constituencies.
In fact, I had said publicly that I expect the PAS candidate in Sungai Besar to lose by some 10,000 votes and in Kuala Kangsar to lose by some 5,000 votes as compared to the votes polled by the PAS candidates in these two constituencies in the 13th General Election in 2013.
To defeat the UMNO/BN candidate in Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar in the by-elections would cause quite a political earthquake as both constituencies had been UMNO strongholds, never won by any Opposition candidate in the past six decades.
But this political earthquake could only achieved by the AMANAH candidate and NOT the PAS candidate because of the demographic composition of the constituencies and from the voters’ reactions in the past four days.
I am shocked when I was in Kuala Kangsar yesterday that the Perak MCA is using the name of the late Wan Mohammad Khair-il Wan Ahmad in the by-election campaign, claiming that if was still alive, the late UMNO/BN MP for Kuala Kangsar would not have agreed with Hadi’s hudud bill motion or even with UMNO Minister, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said for her Ministerial motion fast-tracking Hadi’s hudud bill on the last day of Parliament on May 26.
This is contained in a letter by the Perak MCA Chairman Dr. Mah Hang Soon which appeared in the June edition of the publication “Perak View”, which was distributed in Kuala Kangsar by the MCA by-election campaign team led by the MCA Wanita Chief, Heng Seai Kie.
Mah should not have used Wan Mohammad Khair-il’s name in vain or has he got the permission from Mastura Mohd Yazid to use her late husband’s name saying that her husband would have opposed Hadi’s hudud bill and even opposed Azalina’s Ministeiral motion to “fast-track” Hadi’s bill?
As Mastura is now UMNO/BN candidate for the Kuala Kangsar by-election, has Mastura give him the assurance that if elected, she will like her late husband oppose Hadi’s hudud bill as well as oppose any Ministerial motion to “fast-track” Hadi’s motion?
I was doubly shocked yesterday, the second occasion was Heng’s statement in Kuala Kangsar that Azalina did not represent BN when she moved the Ministerial motion in Parliament on May 26 to fast-track Hadi’s hudud motion.
This has come as a surprise all-round, as Malaysians had always been told that the Government in Putrajaya is a BN and not an UMNO government, and Ministers sit in Parliament representing BN and not just UMNO or their respective parties.
Would the MCA Wanita Chairman call for the sacking of Azalina from the Cabinet as she had moved the Ministerial motion as UMNO Minister, committing a gross breach of trust to act as a BN Minister reflecting the views of all BN parties.
What is even more befuddling is her claim that “MCA’s conscience was clear as it had not betrayed the Chinese community”.
Heng provides a classic case of “eyes that see not, ears that hear not, mouth that speaks not, conscience that feels not”.
The MCA Wanita Chairperson is the best advertisement of the present batch of MCA leadership, and why even MCA members have lost confidence in the MCA leaders with some 70 per cent of the one million card-carrying members rejecting and MCA and Barisan Nasional candidates and choosing to vote for DAP/Pakatan Rakyat candidates in the 13th General Elections.
The more she speaks in taking Malaysians for fools, the worse it will be for MCA.
The time has come for new politics in Malaysia where Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or political party, unite as one to “Save Malaysia” from widespread corruption and injustices in the country.
MCA claimed to have more than a million members, but in the 13th General Election three years ago, some 70 per cent of the million MCA card-carrying members voted against the MCA and Barisan Nasional candidates, supporting the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) candidates in support of PR call for political change in Putrajaya.
MIC claimed to have 750,000 members but in the 13GE, some 75 per cent of MIC’s three-quarter of a million members voted against MIC and BN candidates in support of PR candidates!
If in the Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar by-elections on June 18, PAS and UMNO members can rise above petty party politics to “Save Malaysia” and refuse to fall into the Najib-Hadi trap to use Hadi’s hudud bill to distract attention from Najib’s RM55 billion 1MDB and RM4.2 billion “donation” twin mega scandals, and vote for the respective AMANAH/Pakatan Harapan candidates, then the Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar by-elections will see the beginning of a new politics in Malaysia, where national interests are given higher priority than political party interests, whether UMNO, PAS or Najib-Hadi political conspiracy.