THE Chinese vote did not go to waste on May 9 as it has helped affect change in the country for the first time in its history, said Gan Ping Sieu.

The former MCA vice-president said change is there but the community must be patient with the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government. 

“Change took place after a long time and as such our votes counted.

“But the new government needs to be given time to make changes,” the former Mengkibol assemblyman told a forum at the Klang Hokkien Association today. 

Gan was responding if the Chinese vote brought about the change they wanted.

The “Did your vote count?” forum was held in conjunction with Pakatan Harapan’s first year in power after the 14th general election.

Among the factors that led to the historic victory was the overwhelming support from Chinese (95%) and Indian (62%) communities.

But a recent survey by Merdeka Centre last week showed that PH’s popularity has since plummeted.  

Gan said PH has made many unpopular but necessary decisions.

“Among them were the U-turns on major projects involving China and Singapore such as ECRL and the high speed rail. But these U-turns were necessary and it’s good to see that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has begun to reconcile with two our biggest trading nations. 

“Take the National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) for example. Before the elections, some had called for the loans to be written off but it’s good to ask people to pay back the loans.”

He said these are some of the U-turns that he agreed with.

Gan added it is still disappointing to note that the matriculation admission quota is still pegged at 90% for Bumiputera as it meant that many STPM students will miss out on the chance to enter public universities.

At the same forum, Deputy Defence Minister Liew Chin Tong said it has been challenging to make the right decisions. 

“We try to reduce BR1M from RM1,500 in order to restructure the economy but people are upset. These trade-offs are necessary but it is unpopular.” 

Another challenge for the new government, said Liew, is the open environment.

“In the past, forums like this will not even be allowed.”

But among the consequences of the open environment meant PH is pegged to racial politics by some media.

“The Chinese vernacular papers say that DAP is dictated by Dr Mahathir while the Malay papers say that the government is dictated by DAP. 

“What we all need to do is DAP does not represent Chinese only but all Malaysians. And we all need to view issues for what they are and not from racial lens,” said the DAP political education chief.

Liew added Malaysians have to find middle ground in order to progress.

Panellist Dr Wong Chin Huat said the votes are not wasted as it resulted in change.

But he said it was aided by Barisan Nasional (BN) who thought it could split the opposition vote by creating three-cornered fights. 

“Had BN and PAS worked together like now, our votes wouldn’t have mattered,” said the Jeffrey Sachs Centre for Sustainable Development senior fellow. 

He said that PH’s slow pace of change is because it does not have two-thirds majority in Parliament.

“Pakatan wanted to amend the constitution last month, but it failed because Gabungan Parti Sarawak did not back it.”

Meanwhile, Tanjung Malim MP Chang Lih Kang said PH’s challenge is tied to the economy.

“Generally, people have not felt that their purses have grown and as such it’s easy to blame Lim Guan Eng (finance minister) for the problems. But the first couple of years will involve correcting certain wrongs of the past before we can move forward,” said the PKR lawmaker. – May 1, 2019