By Ong Tee Keat
It is with great sadness that I refer to the recent defeat of MCA and Barisan Nasional in the Kajang by-election.
It indeed pains my heart to see the party and coalition which I have put nearly 30 years of my life into fare badly in a by-election, of which traditionally the federal party in power should have an advantage.
I think it is pertinent that BN does a serious post-mortem into the performance of MCA in the by-election.
It is no point to harp on a negligible change in voter sentiment from a particular community – most importantly we need to ask ourselves why an MCA vice president heavily favoured by the MCA president managed to lose 14 out of 16 polling districts, including those won in GE13 and other previously “stronghold” areas.
The results, with a 2% increase in support overall for Pakatan, shows that the voters are more interested in national issues, even in state seats.
The unprecedented low turnout for the by-election also shows that the rakyat is sick of negative politicking.
I hope that the BN top leadership can take note and listen to their officers and leaders on the ground when it comes to these matters.
I remain loyal to the people and the coalition and will continue to be, despite what some may call “shabby treatment” due to my insistence on telling the hard truth instead of wallowing in a denial syndrome.
I strongly urge all BN leaders to stop the denial syndrome and shift out of “auto-pilot”, taking charge of the issues at hand instead of pretending our problems in policy and internal management don’t exist.
I am saddened that my offers to assist in Kajang fell on deaf ears in the top leadership of MCA, for reasons known only to them.
I do believe though that if we take a serious look at the way we are managing things, re-orientate our policies, and work hard to resolve our internal mobilisation, BN will be able to win back the hearts of the people.
It is of great importance that the next BN Supreme Council meeting has a discussion on MCA re-entering the cabinet.
While MCA now has the mandate to do so, I believe that the results and post-mortem of Kajang will show that the top leadership of MCA has much to do with regard to internal work, and should be concentrating on winning back the hearts of the people.
Only then will the people give a strong indication they would like MCA back in the cabinet to represent them.
We are one week away from 100 days in power for the current leadership of MCA.
My personal assessment is that they have little to show for it other than a costly EGM and a severe defeat in a by-election.
Since my passion to serve the nation continues, I have initiated other avenues for my work to carry on. I hope that the rakyat will continue to support me to help bring about a Better Nation.