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The People of Ipoh must not be cheated again by the promise the MCA will consider appointing a Minister, Deputy Minister, Parliamentary Secretary and/or Executive Councilor for Ipoh Press Statement by Ngeh Koo Ham (Ipoh, Wednesday):  In respond to my speech on 2/3/2003, Perak MCA Liason Committee Chairman, Dato' Ong Ka Chuan is reported in the Press today that he will lobby for a Minister, Deputy Minister, Parliamentary Secretary or an executive councilor to be appointed for Ipoh after the next general election. The people of Ipoh must not be misled by the said promise for the following reasons:-   1. Dato' Ong Ka Chuan is not in a capacity to lobby for such positions Dato' Ong Ka Chuan is not in a capacity to lobby for such a position for the Ipoh people. Such a promise must come from persons no less than the MCA President himself, the Prime Minister or the Menteri Besar of Perak.   2. MCA President has confessed that he acts at the dictate of UMNO President and not the Chinese community The MCA told the Chinese community in 1995 & 1999 General Elections that for the Chinese community's voice to be heard, they must support the MCA so that MCA will have the clout to bargain for the Chinese community in Barisan Nasional (BN). Ipoh with the most densely concentrated Chinese population in Perak responded over-whelmingly in support. All the BN/(MCA & Gerakan) candidates were elected in the 2 Parliamentary and 5 State constituencies in Ipoh in the last 2 General Elections. The MCA President recently declared that he is only a soldier who will that all orders from his Commander, UMNO President, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohammad. All these years he and MCA elected representatives could only say 'Ya' (yes) dan 'betul' (right) to anything that UMNO says. 3. Even the Prime Minister did not fulfill his promise to the Chinese community Not only has MCA cheated the Chinese, our Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohammad from UMNO has also cheated the Chinese Community. Prior to the 1999 General Election, our PM has agreed in principle to accept the 20-point requests from Suqiu committee but after getting the Chinese support in the 1999 General Election our PM described those in the Suqiu committee as extremists and liken them to the Communists and the Al Maunah group. 4. Perak MCA does not dare to object to the unfair re-delineation against the Ipoh and Chinese population MCA can no longer be trusted. But time has shown that the people of Ipoh have been cheated. MCA elected representatives do not dare to object to the unfair redelineation exercise by the Election Commission which erode the electrol rights of the Chinese and the Ipoh residents. The Election Commission is proposing to create only 1 additional Parliamentary seat in Perak and it will be at one of the least populated constituency in Perak i.e the Gerik constituency which has only 38,637 voters in 1999. The new constituency of Lenggong will have only 21,248 voters and the new Gerik constituency will have only 23,999 voters. The Parliamentary constituencies of Ipoh Timur which has 77,884 voters and Ipoh Barat which has 71,355 voters as in 1999 remained unchanged. One vote in Lenggong is equal to almost 4 votes in Ipoh. 5. No Perak MCA elected representatives has spoken against the abuses of funds by Ipoh City Council The Ipoh residents pay the highest assessment rate in the country with properties paying as high as 16% of their annual rents but the services provided by the City Council are poor. There are so few recreational parks in Ipoh. So much funds were wasted in paying for very expensive parking meters and lamp posts. Just completed road with nice pavement blocks were dug up and new decorative giant flower pots replaced. In order to get more money the Ipoh City Council has announce that it will be expanding its jurisdiction to surrounding areas. Service is expected to deteriorate further. No MCA elected representative has spoken out against the abuses of funds of the city council. If the people of Ipoh continue to vote for the MCA despite the unfair racial policies of BN and its declaration Malaysia is an Islamic state, then the Chinese are sending a message to the Government that such discriminatory racial policy and the declaration are acceptable by them. It may a way of no return. We shall bear the guilt of leaving to our children a nation with such policies. (5/3/2003) *  Ngeh Koo Ham, DAP Perak Chairman