I wish to call on BN candidate for Teluk Intan by election Dato Mah Siew Keong to state his position on the ridiculous, unfair, unacceptable and deplorable remarks made by the Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Hamidi yesterday—that Chinese Malaysians who vote for opposition party DAP after becoming economically successful are “ingrates”.
There can be no justification for Zahid to make such racist remarks, he must therefore retract his remarks and apologise to the Chinese community.
If Mah truly disagrees with what Zahid has said, he should be brave to not only demand that Zahid retracts and apologise for his remarks, he should also ask the Prime Minister to ban Zahid from campaigning in Teluk Intan immediately till polling day.
The question is whether Mah Siew Keong has such courage against an Umno Minister?
It has been BN tactic to make promises, hand out hampers, annouce allocations during all by elections.
It is therefore not surprising that in the ongoing Teluk Intan by election, BN minsiters have made various promises to the voters.
According to Malaysiakini report, among the promises made by BN ministers in the course of the campaign are:
- Improved broadband Internet connections;
- A crematorium and a hall for wedding receptions for the Indian community;
- Getting the Teluk Intan leaning tower listed as a Unesco heritage site, and
- Uniforms for members of the People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela)
However, what is most surprising in the Teluk Intan by election is that the BN candidate Dato Mah Siew Keong has not only come out what seems to be his personal or Gerakan Manifesto, he has even said that he is not responsible for the slew of pledges made by BN ministers in the course of campaign.
Mah must answer the following questions:
Firstly, since BN is the ruling party, why has he produced a personal or Gerakan manifesto? Does it mean he has failed to get the Federal government’s agreement and support for his manifesto?
If he has no support from the Federal government, how is he going to ensure that he can deliver what are contained in his manifesto?
Secondly, why has he not made efforts to champion what he now promises when he was the MP for Teluk Intan for two terms after winning in the 1999 and 2004 general elections?
Thirdly, when he said he was not responsible for promises made by BN Ministers, does this mean that he has no confidence that their promises will be fulfilled?
If he does not have confidence in what the BN ministers promise, how does he expect voters to trust what Ministers say?