
The voters of Kajang have redeemed our hope that change is possible and that our aspirations are achievable, says P Ramakrishnan.

PKR won the Kajang by-election as widely expected, albeit with a slightly reduced majority. This lower majority could be attributed to the poor turnout of 72 per cent of voters compared with the 88 per cent in the general election last May.
Much has been made of this reduced majority. In 2013, PKR won with a majority of 6,823 votes but this has now been trimmed to 5,379, a shortfall of 1,455 votes.
But nothing is said in the BN-controlled mainstream media about the drop in the number of votes polled by the MCA-BN since GE13. In 2013, the MCA bagged 12,747 votes compared with its present tally of 11,362, a reduction of 1,385 votes. This must be worrying for the MCA.
In fact, the MCA’s Lee Ban Seng, who was defeated in GE13, did much better than Datuk Paduka Chew Mei Fun. In the MCA hierarchy, Ban Seng was a nobody whereas Mei Fun is the third-highest ranking leader in the MCA. Moreover, she had a bigger profile and was better known, having been a former PJ Utara MP and deputy minister in the BN government.
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For her to draw fewer votes than Ban Seng does not speak well for Chinese Malaysian support for the MCA. It does not in any way show that the support from the community is returning to the MCA. So there is nothing to gloat about for the Umno-BN in this by-election.
All said and done, Aliran would like to commend the voters of Kajang for their bravery and their courageous indictment of Umno and its lop-sided policies and mismanagement of government.
The voters of Kajang have redeemed our hope that change is possible and that our aspirations are achievable. They have shown us: “We need never be hopeless because we can never be irreparably broken.”
They have confirmed that what has happened in the recent past – the convictions of Anwar Ibrahim and Karpal Singh in rushed judgments – are acts that have to be condemned in no uncertain terms.
They have clearly conveyed the message that corruption will not be tolerated, that selective prosecutions are abhorrent, that the attempt to divide us along ethnic and religious lines will be fiercely resisted, that ignoring the plight of the poor and promoting the enrichment of the powerful will invite the backlash of thinking Malaysians.
They have set the trend for GE14 and showed us the way forward. The way forward is full of hope for change, and that possibility is real.
We are reminded of the inspiring saying, “Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence.”
Likewise, when the many caring Malaysians walk together along the path of democracy, we can pave the way for a new government that will be just and fair to all Malaysians – irrespective of our ethnic and religious origins.
P Ramakrishnan
Executive committee member
24 March 2014
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
When is MCA going to face the truth that they no longer represent the Chinese ! MCA lost that for sometime now. Just imagine MCA had a more than a hundred seats in parliament and ever since the egregious Mahathir became PM and started to marginalise the Chinese in the civilm services. Especially so when MCA did not object to that policy and did nothing to prevent that policy from being implemented and even stayed on in the cabinet as one of the partners in BN. Thus MCA ministers not only demonstrated that they not only endorsed the policy as long as they get their share of the loots and the positions as ministers in the cabinet. I might add that as junior ministers in the cabinet so that their Umno masters can claim that every and all decisions made are with the approval of MCA and all the partners in BN. When any idiot knew that everything Umno proposes or desires will be implemented and endorsed by all the partners of BN. Since when have the partners were and are seen to have objected to… Read more »