24 March 2014
By-election sees MCA revival
By Shahrum Sayuthi
BACK IN ACTION: The enthusiasm of its members is real
AMONG the first to arrive at the polling station at SK Convent Kajang
before it opened yesterday was a group of about 30 MCA members.
Clad in the blues of Barisan Nasional, they placed themselves not far
from the centre and started to chant "Satu Malaysia!" and "Menang BN!",
providing some excitement for the early voters, waiting for the school
gate to be opened by Election Commission officials.
A short while later, a smaller group of PKR members turned up and
gathered at the opposite site of the road and shouted "Reformasi!" and
"Menang, Kak Wan!", in reference to their party's candidate, Datuk Seri
Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
The enthusiasm of the MCA members was very real as they tried to drown the incessant shouts of their PKR rivals.
Despite Dr Wan Azizah's win yesterday, it was obvious from the PKR's
reduced majority that Barisan Nasional, in particular, the much-maligned
MCA, had finally got their work together.
Dr Wan Azizah's 5,379-vote majority was significantly lower than PKR's
Lee Chin Cheh who won by 6,824-vote majority, less than a year ago in
the 13th General Election (GE13).
More telling from the outcome of the poll yesterday was the early
estimate by observers that suggested BN's candidate Datin Paduka Chew
Mei Fun, who is also MCA vice-president, had garnered more than 25 per
cent of the Chinese community votes.
It was a relatively huge improvement from the estimated 10 per cent
received from the community by the BN candidate Lee Ban Seng, also from
MCA, in the GE13.
Judging from the MCA's new vigour following its leadership change and
the apparently positive response in the by-election, the party may
probably be well on the recovery process after the nightmare of the
general election's Chinese tsunami last year which reduced its electoral
representation to merely seven parliamentary and 11 state seats.
The positive advances by MCA in the by-election should also spell
trouble for Pakatan as the die had been cast that the Chinese voters in
particular are no longer buying the opposition coalition's sweeping
accusations against the government -- lock, stock and barrel.
Despite the much-hyped call for Reformasi 2.0 to protest against Datuk
Seri Anwar Ibrahim's five-year conviction for sodomy, this could mean
that the public had gone weary of the conduct of Pakatan leaders, in
particular, the PKR's engineering of the by-election itself.
The statistics could not lie. Of the 39,287 Kajang voters, only 28,314
or 72 per cent of them bothered to vote in the PKR's engineered
by-election as compared to 88.40 per cent in the GE13.
The percentage of voter turnout in Kajang yesterday was also the lowest
among by-elections, post GE13, with Kuala Besut by-election recording
79.76 per cent and Sungai Limau, 85 per cent turn-out.
It should be noted that the other two by-elections held in July and
November last year, respectively, were held on a working day instead of a
weekend, as in the case for Kajang yesterday.
The situation may have been different if Dr Wan Azizah's plea for
sympathy for her husband's legal issues was before the last general
election, where she would probably receive an avalanche of votes.
Bear in mind that the Kajang by-election was supposed to be Anwar's
watershed moment in his quest for the seat of power in Putrajaya.
Such a pyrrhic victory by his wife in a constituency which is now the
bastion of Pakatan could very well mark the end of his life-long quest
to be a prime minister.
Anwar had obviously overestimated his popularity when he decided to
proceed with the so-called "Kajang move", a misstep which in all
likelihood will mark the end of his political relevancy.
It would not be easy for him to retain his stature as the head of the
opposition following his miscalculation which had also dealt a severe
blow upon his allies.
Pakatan leaders, such as DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang, had during the
campaigning period repeatedly expressed his conviction that Chew would
be totally crushed and even lose her deposit.
It was a "loss of face" for the veteran politician for uttering such an
arrogant remark as the voters, especially among the Chinese community
who had overwhelmingly supported DAP and its allies during the general
election last year, proved themselves to be more discerning this time.
Whether Pakatan may recover from the setback will be a question to
ponder for quite awhile, but what is certain is that Anwar's desperate
attempt at stimulating his ebbing efforts for power had been dealt with a
severe, if not fatal, blow by his own engineered by-election.
