PETALING JAYA: In the absence of a miracle, MCA candidate Chew Mei Fun failed to upset her rival, PKR’s Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail in the March 23 Kajang by-election.
With a lower turnout of 72.09% compared to 88.40% in GE13, Chew did not lose her deposit, polling 11,362 votes while Pakatan Rakyat candidate Wan Azizah obtained 16,741 votes to retain the Kajang state constituency.
Despite the wins and losses, analysts summed it up as a bitter-sweet victory for the political divide with both PKR and MCA needing to tackle their respective internal party problems.
The Pakatan coalition has to resolve related issues surrounding the Selangor Menteri Besar post and MCA is pushing its top gear promising greater internal reforms.
FMT spoke to Stanley Koh, a FMT columnist and former head of MCA’s think-tank, on his views of MCA’s performance in the Kajang by-election, viewed by many as a litmus test on the current leadership, and on his insights into the party’s bleak future.
FMT: Immediately after the results were announced, MCA claimed it had achieved its objective of reducing the opposition’s majority votes and that support from the Chinese community had marginally increased. Do you agree?
Koh: Yes, the MCA candidate (Chew Mei Fun) managed to reduce Pakatan’s majority votes from 6,824 in GE13 to the current 5,483. The party president Liow Tiong Lai also claimed that Chinese support “had bounced back” or increased from about 18% to an overall 25%.
But these claims must be taken in context with other factors. The voter turnout was lower this time around, from 88.4% to 72.09%. Assuming there had been a higher voter turnout, my question is: Would there have been a guaranteed higher percentage of voting Chinese support for the party?
The fact that BN was hoping for a lower voter turnout spoke volumes of the possibility of the coalition losing more votes in absolute numbers.
The second point shows statistical truth. In the previous Kajang election, the MCA candidate won votes in four polling districts with a Chinese majority. This time round, Chew only scored in two polling districts. Sungai Chua is a Chinese majority area and result reflect badly on MCA in terms of getting Chinese support.
Do you dispute the claims as significant? What other implications do you foresee based on the party’s performance in Kajang?
Even if the claims are true, I don’t think the increase of voting support from the Chinese community in Kajang can be considered as representative of Chinese voters elsewhere in the country.
The fact remains, that voting support from the younger generation continue to shun the party. The only two polling districts showing voting support are Batu 10 Cheras and Sungai Kantan.
If statistics are telling, remember that although Pakatan’s absolute majority votes in Kajang dropped from 6,824 to 5,379, their percentage of total votes garnered in relation to voters’ turnout increased from some 57.9% to 60.9%.
This may be attributed to the fact that Pakatan had managed to win back some votes from Umno strongholds, namely Sungai Sekamat and Taman Delima this time round, compared to the previous election scenario.
In this context BN’s candidate Chew may be right in saying that her opponent Dr Wan Azizah had won back some sympathy votes and held back more losses of votes in the Malay-majority areas.
On the other hand, the cause of this blame must rest with the powers-that-be for persecuting Anwar Ibrahim. Many Malay voters agreed with Pakatan’s ceramah theme, “Menolak BN Budaya Fitnah”.
With weak voting support for MCA and a sympathetic Malay voting population towards PKR, the prospect of MCA’s performance in future elections can be dim.
Do you agree with the views of some, that the Kajang by-election is a litmus test on the new MCA leadership?
No and Yes. Firstly, the answer is “No”.
Strangely, the Kajang by-election was thrown at the party’s feet out of the blue even before party president Liow (Tiong Lai) could show or rather prove his leadership mantle as different from his predecessors with hardly a 100 days in party office.
He was elected during the third week of December last year and the Kajang by-election was made known in February this year, nomination was fixed on March 11 and polling day on March 23. He hardly had any time to carry out his party reforms.
Having said this, however, his leadership in spearheading the Kajang by-election has been criticised from both within and outside the party.
In some aspects, Liow had walked his talk by selecting an election candidate using surveys and opinion polls. I was told Chew was selected on this basis from among other listed candidates.
From the public domain, much criticism and condemnation had been directed at the way the party struggled to attract the voters’ crowd by organising karaoke’s and even a lucky draw event. Of course, the party leaders could brush this off and justify it as coincidental.
A lucky draw event with prizes of expensive household items like washing machines, television sets and vacuum cleaners was largely frowned on by the public.
The question to ask is whether MCA leaders value the values of accountability, transparency, honour and dignity in winning elections without being accused of “bribery” and ensuring a clean and fair election.
If you want a clean and fair election, then dwell on “issues” and constructive public debates. In this arena, MCA failed the litmus test.
Do you foresee other opportunities for MCA to contest in a by-election with a MCA candidate? By then perhaps MCA would be better prepared under its new leadership’s reformation process?
There are rumours, gossip and speculation that the Pandan parliamentary seat might be the next upcoming by-election. Currently the seat is under PKR’s MP Rafizi Ibrahim who contested against a MCA candidate in GE13. I will not mention the underlying reasons or speculate on this.
Will MCA be better prepared by then, should or if a by-election does take place for the Pandan parliamentary seat?
I am not sure. Reason being that whatever transformation the leadership carries out is largely an internal process.
There may be some linkages that concern the public domain, like attracting younger voters, training cadres and starting publicity strategy “war rooms”.
Many of these things have already been implemented in the opposition camp too without fancy blueprint reports and in print.
What the opposition has but is found to be lacking in MCA is leadership talent and principles.
Democratic values and principles on societal fairness and justice that the public domain can differentiate and are largely concerned with. But can MCA deliver these under the thumb-rule of Umno’s supremacy?
Hypothetically even if we assume that MCA is perfect in its leadership role, the party will still be whipped and condemned as long as it is part of the Barisan Nasional.
And realistically the more opposition leaders are persecuted in any form or manner, MCA will shoulder the “karmic” consequence of an evil instrumental government.
A weakening opposition does not translate into making MCA more powerful or influential. That’s not Umno’s agenda.
Umno merely has a keen desire for MCA to deliver the Chinese votes to protect its power play in Putrajaya’s corridors-of-power.
Ultimately, MCA will not only face the wrath of the opposition but the empowerment of the rakyat’s awakening conscience.
