Yesterday morning, I had issued a statement warning MCA not to use Karpal’s name in bad faith in trying to dodge the Bukit Gelugor by election.
Part of my statement reads as follows:-
“In today’s Sin Chew Jit Poh, it was reported that BN may not filed a candidate in the Bukit Gelugor by election. The report says that it was learned that BN Secretary General Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan and MCA President Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai had met to discuss on the issue.
The report also says that according to sources, one of the factors that may cause MCA not to field a candidate in the by election is due to MCA grassroots ‘ feeling that that it will be a way to show their respect to the late Karpal Singh’s for his strong stand against hudud implementation.
It is good that MCA grassroots respect Karpal Singh, the great DAP fighter who passed away on April 17. It is also MCA’s right whether they want to field a candidate in the upcoming Bukit Gelugor by election. They can even field a proxy if they wish.
However, I must warn MCA not to “use and exploit “Karpal‘s name for their political purpose. “
It did not therefore come as a surprise that MCA announced in yesterday’s afternoon that it had decided to back out of the by election.
MCA Secretary General Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan said MCA decided that it was necessary to consolidate its strength to reform and transform the party first.
“There is also an immediate urgency over the hudud matter and we want to focus on it before it becomes a reality,” he added.
MCA can offer whatever reason but not many will think that it has given the true reason – that it is afraid of a disastrous defeat which will make it hard to justify its rejoining the Cabinet.
MCA’s unprecedented backing out of a by election also proves that it does not even believe in all the attacks it has waged against the DAP over the hudud controversy.
If DAP is truly the unprincipled party that has sold out the people as alleged by the incessant falsehoods and lies spread by MCA , then MCA should be confident that the Bukit Gelugor voters will certainly vote against the DAP on polling day.
If MCA truly believes in its own propaganda waged against the DAP, MCA should be confident of an upset victory against the DAP in Bukit Gelugor, perhaps even causing DAP candidate to lose his deposit.
But MCA knows that although its propaganda of falsehoods and lies against the DAP are given prominent daily coverage in the Chinese and English printed media in recent weeks, the people are not fools who will believe its propaganda.
Hence, MCA’s backing out of the by election does not only show that it knows that people are not fools, but also that the party itself does not believe in the lies and falsehoods it has spread against the DAP over the hudud controversy.