Sore MCA man gets bitter over KT defeat?

KUALA LUMPUR: The DAP owes non-Muslims an apology for campaigning for PAS in the Kuala Terengganu by-election as it was tantamount to helping the Islamist party establish theocratic rule, said MCA political education bureau chairman Gan Ping Siew. [20/1/09]

The March 8 spirit lives on in Kuala Terengganu and ballot-casters have shown that their passion for positive change did not wither. While Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the Barisan Nasional gracefully accepts the defeat, another component party of the coalition, the MCA apparently hasn't gotten over the bitter by-election result.

The Pakatan Rakyat's victory was probably credited to the relentless co-operation shown by PKR and DAP despite the candidate, Abdul Wahid Endut not belonging to either of their ranks. The PAS man defeated BN's Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Salleh by a 2,631-vote majority.

On January 20, the MCA, through its political education bureau chairman released a statement saying the DAP 'owes an apology to the non-Muslim community in Kuala Terengganu' for supporting PAS in their by-election campaign. MCA political education bureau chairman Gan Ping Siew said that PAS' victory in the east coast city is en route to the establishment of Islamic theocratic rule in the country as aspired by the Islamist party. Gan also accused the DAP of assisting PAS just because it wanted to gain power.

“The bureau is deeply consoled that the Chinese voters in Kuala Terengganu made a rational choice to support the Barisan Nasional. This indicates the Chinese there had not been blinded by DAP and had utterly rejected the ideology of theocratic rule in the country,” he said in a statement. [The Star, 20/1/09]

Now, does MCA have a point here or are they simply being sore over the defeat?

It's worth noting that the MCA political education bureau chairman's statements were already dubious to begin with. But first thing's first: Who is Gan Ping Siew to speak on behalf of the Chinese community in Kuala Terengganu?

The MCA itself does not speak for all Malaysian Chinese, let alone a political education bureau chairman. Such statements made by Gan is political arrogance personified as the he tries to rationalised Barisan Nasional's defeat by taking cheap shots at the Opposition. He also said that the Chinese voters made the right choice of supporting Barisan Nasional in the by-election.

Unless Gan is telepathic, there is no way for him to know who voted for who at the polling stations. As far as Malaysian elections are concerned, voters cast their ballots in private, without revealing their candidate of their choice. Once again, who is Gan to say that Barisan Nasional had an overwhelming support from the Chinese community in Kuala Lumpur?

Being a political education bureau chairman himself, Gan failed to even understand the basics of democracy, that is when he claimed that PAS' victory in Kuala Terengganu moves the country a step closer to theocratic rule. The reality is that PAS will never establish theocratic rule in this country without any form of consensus from the DAP and PKR. Likewise, component parties of the Pakatan Rakyat can never act on its own without prior dialogue with the other member parties. That is what we call democracy, Gan! The Pakatan Rakyat is a partnership and not a master-slave relationship these parties are currently flourishing under. So it seemed that a certain political education bureau chairman has failed to understand such fundamentals.

Perhaps, this is the typical fear-mongering so routinely employed by Barisan Nasional leaders to ensure people do not vote for the Opposition. It is a simple but cheap method of garnering public support in the wake of elections. Nevertheless, the March 8 General Elections and both the Permatang Pauh and Kuala Terengganu by-elections have proven that old habits do die hard for certain people.

Hence, MCA should heed Najib's advice and learn from this defeat and not cry trying to figure out who split the milk.