DAP congratulates PKR for their strong and solid performance in retaining Permatang Pauh in the by-election last night. This is a vindication of PKR de facto head Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is languishing in prison following the unfair and selective prosecution by the UMNO-led Federal government, to silence the Opposition leader and end his political career.
PKR President Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail’s unexpected solid victory in the Permatang Pauh by-election, despite a determined effort UMNO to wrest the seat after 17 years, is due to the rejection of BN’s politics of GST,financial scandal, divisive politics of race and religion, threats and lies, as well as continued support for the people-centric policies of PR, the imprisoned Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and commitment by all PR parties to the Penang PR state government. I observed that BN and UMNO invested substantially more resources in this by-election, at least 10 times as compared to the 13th general elections.
UMNO Vice-President Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was even confident of snatching victory from PKR. The mainstream media controlled by BN chanted the mantra that an upset victory by UMNO is possible. At the end BN’s votes increased by a mere 0.38% to 40.44%. Much has been said by the mainstream press about the reduced majority in their desperation to hide UMNO’s failure, by ignoring the real cause – the 15% drop in voter turnout from 88% to only 73%.
Clearly the national issues of GST, the financial scandals prominently headlined by 1MDB and the failed economic policies of BN, that were exposed with surgical precision by former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed and former Finance Minister Tun Daim Zainuddin, dominated the voters’ mind. If the latest expose of Lembaga Tabung Haji buying land from 1MDB had broken out a few days before polling day, UMNO would have lost by a bigger margin than the 2013 general elections.
The people were also fed-up of BN’s politics of fear in using the divisive nature of race and religion as well as threats and lies to intimidate the voters to support BN. Such dirty tactics, effective they may have been in the past, no longer worked on educated and sophisticated voters in Permatang Pauh.
The voters clearly saw the hypocrisy of UMNO when MCA Wanita chief and Deputy Minister Heng Seai Kie made the ridiculous claim that the Chinese community does not have any reason to oppose the GST and that Malays will pay more GST because they have more children. GST affects all Malaysians regardless of race and religion. Or the outrageous threats of Agriculture Minister Ismail Sabri Yaacub to stop allocation funds to farmers in Permatang Pauh if UMNO lost.
Clearly Permatang Pauh voters preferred the united and people-centric policies of the PR Penang state government. Despite UMNO’s claims of no development, the Penang state government had poured more than RM70 million in direct cash aid and development funds since 2008, or an average of RM10 million annually.
Not only did the rakyat received money for the first time, Permatang Pauh voters saw the best community hall built by the state government in Seberang Jaya, repainted mosques and new roads all completed before the by-election. The state government would continue this commitment of serving the rakyat at all times and not only 5 years once during elections.
Thwarted, UMNO made the fatal mistake of claiming that bumi contractors and Islam was discriminated and marginalised. The Penang state government then revealed that since 2008, RM8.3 billion in contracts were awarded under our open competitive tender system. Of this RM8.3 billion, RM7.8 billion or 94% of total contracts, were awarded to bumis, despite them competing under the open tender system.
UMNO was stunned into silence and did not dare to respond to this unrebuttable fact that 94% of state government contracts were awarded to bumi companies. Even the Permatang Pauh UMNO candidate Suhaimie Shabudin who is a contractor, became mute by not daring to answer the press on whether companies which he is involved, had benefited or obtained state government contracts.
The RM8.3 billion of contracts awarded and the 94% increase in manufacturing investment to RM 48.2 billion from 2008-2014, as compared to the similar 7-year period of 2001-7 of RM24.9 billion, has quickly disproved BN’s claims that there was no development in Permatang Pauh or Penang. On Islam, we showed proof that allocations given by PR state government more than doubled compared to what was approved by the previous BN state government, from RM 25.5 million by BN in 2008 to RM 52.2 million by PR in 2014.
Finally, the commitment by all the PR parties towards each other and the Penang PR state government ensured this solid victory. Despite some disputes and outstanding issues at the national level, all PR parties worked together to rebut and repel this attack by UMNO. This commitment towards PR Penang state government will renew the people’s faith in the stability and sustainability of the PR Penang state government to provide as a strong alternative governing model to BN’s crony infested policies, where PR policies are based on clean, competent, accountable and transparent governance that benefits the ordinary rakyat.