PKR President Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail is to be congratulated for a sterling result in the Kajang by-election yesterday.
Despite a massive 16.3% in reduction in the voter turn-out from 88.4 per cent in the 13th general elections last May to 72.1% yesterday, Azizah has established two results in the by-election: MCA remain crushed while UMNO is losing ground in the Malay electorate.
The new MCA national leadership deserves commendation that they can see winning at most 25% of the Chinese votes in Kajang as a “surge in support” among the Chinese voters.
If winning at most 25% of the Chinese votes is not a political phenomenon of the MCA remaining “crushed”, then there is a new definition of the word.
In fact, MCA leaders are demonstrating that they are the new “Ah Q” at the most superlative in the Malaysian political landscape!
There can be no doubt that if the turnout of the Chinese voters had not dropped by a massive 20%, exceeding 3,000 voters, the BN/MCA candidate would have lost by a bigger majority than the 6,824-vote majority last year.
This is especially the case when Azizah’s breakthrough among the Malay electorate is taken into account, raising the estimated Malay voter support from 35% last year to some 44% in the by-election yesterday.
The message in yesterday’s Kajang by-election is that Pakatan Rakyat stands for the future of Malaysian politics, while MCA and Barisan Nasional represent the past.
(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, 24th March 2014)