I was in Seri Setia earlier this evening, as tomorrow, the voters of Balakong and Seri Setia will be casting their votes in the two by-elections.
The most ideal result is for the MCA and PAS candidates in the two by-elections to lose their deposits which will be a fatal blow to the incipient MCA/UMNO/PAS unholy alliance which will cause untold national disunity and dissension in coming years.
On the historic night of May 9, 2018, when the Election Commission downed tools and refused to announce results of the 14th General Elections, as it was clear that UMNO/BN had finally been rejected by the voters of Malaysia, my greatest concern was that Pakatan Harapan could secure a simple majority of at least 112 parliamentary seats to form the new Federal Government of Malaysia.
If there was a hung Parliament, and no contender could get a simple majority of 112 parliamentary seats, then PAS would be able to play the “king-maker” role as envisaged by the PAS President, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, who had announced the PAS objective of winning 40 parliamentary seats in the 14GE to be the “kingmaker” as to who would be the Prime Minsiter and which coalition form the Government in Putrajaya. There was no hiding the fact that the PAS leadership under Hadi would have allowed Datuk Seri Najib Razak to continue as Prime Minister, and throw the support of the 40 PAS MPs to play the “kingmaker” role to enable UMNO/BN to continue as the Federal Government – most probably bargaining the post of Deputy Prime Minister for Hadi – as PAS has no objections to Najib’s 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal which resulted in Malaysia being shamed and known worldwide as a global kleptocracy.
Fortunately, this did not happen and Pakatan Harapan won more than a simple majority and together with the Warisan parliamentary seats, a secure and strong Federal Government was formed in Putrajaya.
Now, these political players are up to their old tricks and we can see the new form and shape of a MCA/UMNO/PAS unholy alliance being constructed after the by-elections tomorrow.
Such an unholy alliance will be unprincipled, opportunistic and highly irresponsible as it would have only one objective – to use lies and falsehoods to stop the building of a New Malaysia by ensuring that the Pakatan Harapan government in Putrajaya would collapse and disintegrate before the next general election in 2023.
This is why the results of the MCA and PAS candidates in Balakong and Seri Setia by-elections losing their deposits would be the most ideal outcomes, for it would be a fatal blow to the incipient MCA/UMNO/MCA unholy alliance which will cause untold national disunity and dissension in coming years.
This would not be easy, unless there is a high voter turnout, which is always a problem in by-elections a few months after a a general election.
I am rather worried about the voter turnout for the Seri Setia and Balakong by-elections tomorrow as the public holidays for the next four days at a stretch may defeat Pakatan Harapan efforts to call for a high turnout of voters in the by-election, so as to avoid the dismally low 49.4 per cent voter turnout in the Sungai Kandis by-election.
Let us keep our fingers crossed, that there would be a high voter turnout in both by-elections and that the MCA and PAS candidates would lose their deposits.
[Speech by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang at the DAP Balakong by-election ceramah at Taman Desa Baijuri on Friday, Sept. 7, 2018 at 10.30 pm]