Chinese community urged to think carefully before voting

KOTA KINABALU: The federal and state governments should not be without Chinese representation, said former Elopura assemblyman Datuk Au Kam Wah.

“If there is zero Chinese representation, will the government still provide allocations for Chinese schools and non-Islamic religious bodies? However, if there are two or more Chinese elected representatives in parliament, things will certainly be different for the Chinese community in Sabah,” Au said at the Parents’ Day celebration hosted by the Kota Kinabalu Chinese Singers Association Sabah here on Sunday.

In the 13th general election (GE13), he said all 32 Chinesemajority parliamentary seats in Malaysia fell into the hands of the opposition.

“Out of the 25 parliamentary seats in Sabah, only two Chinese-majority seats, namely, Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan, were lost to the opposition,” he said, adding that the Batu Sapi and Tawau parliamentary seats were considered mixed constituencies.

“Why did the opposition fail to change the government despite the Chinese political tsunami in GE13?” Au asked.

Out of the 222 parliamentary seats in Malaysia, he said Pakatan Rakyat (PR) only secured 89 seats while Barisan Nasional (BN) won 133 seats for the coalition to form the government.

In the last election, he said Democratic Action Party (DAP) won 38 parliamentary and 95 state seats, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) secured 30 parliamentary and 49 state seats, while PAS obtained 21 parliamentary and 85 state seats.

“DAP won the highest number of parliamentary seats in GE13 but yet the party was unable to come into power,” he said.

Au reckoned that DAP had misled the Chinese voters with the idea of changing the government, but the attempt failed and resulted in a stronger PAS.

Now DAP reckoned that they need Malay support to win the election and appear to no longer care about the interests of the Chinese community, he said.

“DAP believes that the Chinese will support them no matter what they do,” Au said.

He therefore urged Chinese voters to put aside their emotions before casting their votes and think about who would form the government after the election.

In the coming GE14, Au said the seats PH are contesting would no longer be a one-to-one fight with BN. In fact, he said, there would be at least some three-cornered fights for the seats.

“Under such circumstances, Umno may win more than the 88 parliamentary seats it won in GE13 and only needed a pact with two political parties that could provide the remaining 24 seats to form the government,” Au explained.

Hence, he urged the people to think carefully before they vote as the future of the country in the next five years is in their hands.