LDP worried over declining Chinese support for BN

KOTA KINABALU: Minister of Special Tasks Datuk Seri Panglima Teo Chee Kang hoped that the Chinese voters would support Barisan Nasional (BN) in the coming 14th General Election (GE14).

Teo said the Chinese support for BN had been very low in the GE12 and GE13 in 2008 and 2013 respectively.

“In 2013, the Chinese voters’ support for BN has dropped to less than 20 per cent, while the figure was only between 15 to 18 per cent in big cities.”

He said this trend was worrying because it might affect developments and policies that benefitted the Chinese community.

Teo, who is also the president of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), said that at the Teachers’ Day celebration dinner organized by the Sabah Chinese Kindergarten Boards Association (SCKBA) here on Saturday.

On another note, Teo said the relationship between Malaysia and China was currently at its best.

He said the Belt and Road Initiative advocated by China has greatly benefitted Malaysia in terms of infrastructure development, economic growth and creation of business opportunities.

Teo added that Malaysia was also the preferred destination for Chinese tourists, especially Sabah.

He said close to 500,000 of the 3.5 million tourists who visited Sabah last year were Chinese tourists and he believed that the number would continue to grow in the next few years.

However, Teo pointed out that the opposition had rejected Chinese investments in Malaysia and even alleged that our country’s interests were being sold off to foreign nations.

If the opposition formed the government, he said the Malaysia’s relationship with China might be affected.

“A lot of business will be severely affected if Chinese tourists opt to visit other destinations.”

Meanwhile, Teo said BN’s candidates Datuk Chin Shu Ying and Dr Joseph Lee, who would be contesting for the Likas state and Kota Kinabalu parliamentary seats respectively, both have professional careers.

“They could have chosen to work comfortably in their office yet they are willing to put aside their careers to go into politics, to serve the people.”

He said there were many talents in Kota Kinabalu but majority of them were only interested in commenting about politics on social media instead of stepping forward into politics to bring changes to Sabah and Malaysia.

Teo also echoed Chin’s call for voters to consider the quality and capability of candidate for Likas state seat instead of voting solely based on the party the candidates represent.

“At times, we need to consider whether the candidate can effectively reflect voices from the grassroots to the State Legislative Assembly or Parliament.”

He pointed out that three out of the four elected Democratic Action Party (DAP) assemblymen in GE13 have switched parties, while half of the elected representatives in Pakatan Harapan (PH) have quit from their former parties as well. “Can voters trust and support these parties? “Hence, I hope the people will cast their votes rationally and support Chin and Lee in GE14.”