‘MCA conflict won’t dent BN hopes in by-election’

‘MCA conflict won’t dent BN hopes in by-election’
http://www.theedgemalaysia.com/political-news/149859-mca-conflict-wont-dent-bn-hopes-in-by-election.html
Written by Yong Min Wei Wednesday, 23 September 2009 22:44


KUALA LUMPUR: The conflict between the MCA president and his deputy is expected to come to a head at the party’s extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Oct 10, but a senior official thinks it will not dent Barisan Nasional’s (BN) standing with some 1,500 Chinese in the Bagan Pinang by-election, whose votes may be crucial at the ballot the following day.

MCA central committee member Datuk Ti Lian Ker said the Chinese in Bagan Pinang were more concerned with bread-and-butter issues, Chinese educational matters and the prime minister’s general policies rather than with political polemics.

He said the Chinese in the primarily urban constituency would appreciate that the government had been more accommodative towards the economic well-being of non-Malay communities by lifting the 30% bumiputera equity. They are also happy that there are now bigger allocations to build vernacular schools.

“Datuk Seri Najib Razak has brought in a positive vibe since taking over the premiership. There have been no sensitive issues his administration had introduced,” Ti told The Edge Financial Daily on Sept 23.

According to him, the MCA Teluk Kemang division under which Bagan Pinang falls, has not shown any indication whether it would support president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat or suspended deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, so the MCA conflict should be a non-issue during the by-election campaign.

“MCA has always campaigned with one voice in any election... The local Chinese leadership will be able to deliver,” said Ti, who is also MCA NGO liaison bureau chairman.

Expressing confidence that MCA has a strong base of voters in Bagan Pinang, he however felt that should there be media hype and sensationalisation over the MCA conflict leading to polling day, the Chinese voters could be disheartened and end up either not coming out to vote or voting in protest.

“If every day during the campaigning period the MCA conflict is front-paged, then the general mood of the Chinese voters would be different,” said Ti, a former three-term state assemblyman.

Last week, MCA announced it will convene an EGM on Oct 10 to solve a crisis plaguing the party following the sacking of Chua. However, the party central committee had over the weekend overturned the sacking, in favour of a four-year suspension.

The by-election for the Bagan Pinang state constituency is anticipated to be another fierce face-off between BN and Pakatan Rakyat (PR). Some political analysts opined that the battle would favour BN as it would be an uphill task for the opposition pact to overturn the 2,333-vote majority obtained last year by Umno’s Azman Mohammad Noor on a backdrop of PR showing signs of cracks in a couple of states under its control.

An analyst said BN’s choice of candidate would be critical to ensure whether it would win big in Bagan Pinang, adding that Najib’s strong approval ratings coupled with some goodies expected to be thrown in and support of the majority of the 4,000-odd postal voters would force PR to do plenty of catching up.

Bagan Pinang has 13,664 voters of whom 8,577 or 62.77% are Malays, 1,498 (10.96%) Chinese, 2,834 (20.74%) Indians and others 755 (5.54%). The figure includes 4,604 postal voters.

The opposition, however, is not impressed. “Nobody cares about MCA. Did you read the latest online news?” said Negri Sembilan opposition leader Anthony Loke when contacted. He said the MCA conflict had virtually no bearing on the Bagan Pinang by-election and that PR would want to reach out to the voters en masse with a combination of national and local issues, including the Port Klang Free Zone scandal, death of political aide Teoh Beng Hock and the Perak political impasse, to ride on.

Loke pointed out that the by-election would be a platform to advise voters on the higher cost of living in Negri Sembilan, as the DAP had received numerous complaints that household water bills in the state have surged following the corporatisation of the Negri Sembilan Water Supply Department early this year.

“There has been no increase in water tariffs but many have complained that their water bills have gone up quite high,” said Loke, who is also Lobak assemblyman and Rasah MP.“Every voter is a king-maker and it is our duty to bring to the attention of the voters any shortcomings in the governance and delivery system of the state,” he added when asked if the DAP would mainly concentrate on the Chinese voters.Prior to the death of the Bagan Pinang assemblyman, BN controlled 21 of the 36 seats in the Negri Sembilan state legislative assembly, while PR has 15. The Election Commission has fixed Oct 3 for nomination and Oct 11 for polling in the event of a contest.