Liong Sik and Keng Yaik should protest and get Mahathir to stop the binge of anti-Chinese attacks by UMNO leaders and UMNO-controlled media and respect the constitutional right of the Chinese voters to elect Saifuddin Nasution as Lunas State Assemblyman

(Penang, Friday): UMNO-owned and controlled Utusan Malaysia today carried a most offensive, inflammatory and provocative  article by Rozaman Ismail virtually  questioning the trust and loyalty of the Malaysian Chinese because of the Chinese voter-swing to the Barisan Alternative and the election of  Saifuddin Nasution Ismail  as State Assemblyman in the Lunas by-election on Wednesday.

The article, under the heading "Politik orang Cina di Lunas", asserted that Chinese voters in the country could not be trusted any longer because of the outcome of the Lunas by-election.

It states:

"PILIHAN raya kecil Dewan Undangan Negeri kawasan Lunas yang berakhir semalam menimbulkan satu persoalan menarik: Adakah pengundi berketurunan Cina di negara ini sudah tidak boleh dipercayai lagi?

"Melihat kepada keputusan dan jumlah undi yang diperoleh oleh Barisan  Nasional (BN) dan Parti Keadilan Nasional (Keadilan) khususnya di kawasan majoriti pengundi Cina, jawapan yang paling tepat ialah 'benar.'

"Di sebuah kawasan yang umumnya diketahui sebagai kerusi paling selamat bagi BN, para pengundi berketurunan Cina melakukan sebaliknya dengan memilih calon parti pembangkang, sesuatu yang tidak pernah berlaku pada pilihan raya sebelum ini.

"Kerusi Lunas diketahui sebagai kerusi tradisi BN kerana komposisi tiga kaum utama yang seimbang di kawasan itu.

"Bagaimanapun pada pilihan raya kali ini sesuatu yang tidak pernah disangka-sangka berlaku apabila BN tewas di empat daripada enam daerah mengundi yang pengundi majoritinya adalah orang Cina.

"Ini tidak termasuk di beberapa daerah mengundi lain yang mempunyai peratusan pengundi Melayu/Cina atau Cina/India yang hampir seimbang.

"BN tewas di Kampung Baru Lunas, Pekan Lunas, Taman Sejahtera, Kilang Sago dengan majoriti besar iaitu antara 290 undi hingga 500 undi.

"Parti komponen itu hanya menang dengan dua undi di Pondok Labu dan 10 undi di Kampung Baru.

"Para pengundi Cina juga tidak memihak kepada BN di kawasan yang bercampur-campur seperti Henreitta, Taman Selasih serta beberapa kawasan mengundi lain.

"Sebaliknya BN melakukan kejutan di beberapa kawasan Melayu yang sebelum ini tidak pernah diberi harapan kerana para pengundi Melayu 'dicurigai' akan berpihak kepada pembangkang sebagaimana dilakukan pada pilihan raya umum 1999.

"Para pengundi Melayu di Batu 6, Paya Besar, Sungai Seluang, Taman Selasih dan Simpang Tiga Keladi memberi sokongan yang lebih baik kepada BN!"

Let it not be said that under Barisan Nasional rule, the Malaysian people’s right to vote is only confined to the right to vote for the Barisan Nasional but not for the Barisan Alternative - for if this is the case, then the Barisan Nasional leaders have still a lot to learn from the American system of elections despite the protracted cliff-hanger in the US presidential elections.

Right from the beginning, UMNO and Barisan Nasional leaders had conceded that the Chinese voters in Lunas are the critical factor  in the Lunas  by-election.  UMNO Youth leader, Datuk Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, for instance, said before the Lunas by-election nomination day that UMNO Youth admitted that the key to winning the Lunas by-election state seat lay with the Chinese voters although they formed only 38 per cent of the electorate.

This was also why the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi went all-out for Chinese support in his house-to-house  visits in the constituency.  Unfortunately, the Barisan Nasional election campaign was an insult to the dignity and intelligence of the voters - appealing for the votes through "goodies" rather than respecting the voters’ concerns about their fundamental aspirations for justice, freedom, democracy and good governance.

The Utusan Malaysia writer is entitled to express his  disgust at the failure of  the MCA and Gerakan Presidents to campaign as vigorously as Abdullah in the Lunas by-election, alleging that "Kedua-dua mereka seperti cuba mengelak daripada 'bertemu mata' dengan masyarakat Cina", but it is the height of journalistic irresponsibility and anti-national and un-Malaysian mentality to condemn the Chinese community in the country as untrustworthy and disloyal just because Chinese voters in Lunas exercised  their constitutional right to cast the vote of their choice in the by-election.

As Utusan Malaysia is UMNO-owned and controlled, Malaysians are entitled to ask whether this article reflected UMNO leadership thinking and if not, whether the top UMNO leadership would dissociate itself from such dangerous communal and anti-national sentiments.

Although the UMNO leadership recognised that the Chinese voters in Lunas held the key to the by-election victory, the greatest  failure of the Barisan Nasional in the Lunas by-election was  the inability of the  MCA and Gerakan leaders to realise the legitimacy and strength of their  opposition to the Vision Schools concept and their outrage at the  unwarranted slurs on the Chinese community as "extremists", "chauvinists", "terrorists" and "ingrates" for their support for Suqiu and Chinese education and to communicate them to the top UMNO leadership.

Utusan Malaysia should apologise for the inflammatory and unwarranted attack on the Malaysian Chinese community in the article, just as Mahathir should heed the voice of Lunas by-election,   drop the Vision Schools plan, end politics of ingratitude and apologise for the  many unwarranted slurs on the Chinese community in describing them as "extremists", "terrorists" and "ingrates" for their support for Suqiu and Chinese education.

Otherwise, the Barisan Nasional must expect to lose even more Chinese voter support in future by-elections and the next general election in 2004, not because the Chinese in Malaysia are untrustworthy or disloyal, but because they also care for dignity and respect for their fundamental rights just like other communities, whether it be protection of their language, culture, way of life or the democratic right to vote.

(1/12/2000)