Two days ago, the MCA secretary-general Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan said that instead of development and prosperity, the key issue during the Permatang Pauh by-election would be Anwar Ibrahim’s Sodomy II charge.
He said:
“Permatang Pauh will be a battle of public confidence. The winner will be the side that most convincingly explains the situation surrounding Anwar’s charge.
“If the opposition succeeds in painting a picture that Anwar is a victim of some government conspiracy, then they win. But if the Barisan Nasional can convincingly explain to the grassroots that what’s happening to Anwar is just a criminal justice process, then we win.”
Ka Chuan should not be so fast to jump the gun.
Before MCA leaders, Ministers, Deputy Ministers and MPs go down to the hustings in Permatang Pauh to woo the support of the 14,846 Chinese voters (comprising 24.8% of the 58,459 voters), they should publicly declare whether they fully support the latest persecution of Anwar and the gross abuse of the legal process to further the petty interests of Umno leaders.
After the March 8 “political tsunami”, MCA leaders have been declaring that they have learnt the lesson and would no more be “dumb puppets” of UMNO whether in the Cabinet or the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council.
The first question MCA leaders, Ministers, Deputy Ministers and MPs must answer before they start their campaign in Permatang Pauh is whether they have kept their post-March 8 pledge to speak up for justice and fair play in the Cabinet and the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council, or whether they are no different from the MCA of pre-March 8 “political tsunami” in being mere subservient puppets of Umno “Big Brother”!
The same political challenge applies to the Gerakan and MIC leaders, Ministers, Deputy Ministers and MPs – have they spoken up in Barisan Nasional government and Supreme Council against the Sodomy II persecution of Anwar or are they in full support of the obsession of the top Umno leadership with one person regardless of the national trauma and international infamy it is creating?