SEPARATED by a pasar malam, two ceramah yesterday summed up the vastly differing fortunes of MCA and Pakatan Harapan in the Balakong by-election.

Just 500m apart from each other, the disparity between the two events could not be more stark.

While PH’s event was packed with almost a thousand voters huddled under their umbrellas, MCA saw no more than 30 people. 

“Vote for MCA’s Tan Chee Teong to provide one more opposition voice in Selangor,” said MCA vice-president Chew Mei Fun in Bandar Damai Perdana. 

She said DAP in the new federal government had shown it was unable to check Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad on the issue of the Council of Eminent Persons.

Furthermore, Chew said, the new government had not fulfilled all its manifesto promises.

“A vote for Tan will show how unhappy voters are with them,” said the former MP of Petaling Jaya Utara (now renamed Damansara).

The former Wanita MCA chief has lost in three consecutive general elections. 

Over at PH, Banting assemblyman Lau Weng San and Kluang MP Wong Shu Qi, both of DAP, pointed to MCA’s track record in government. 

“Has MCA owned up to its past mistakes?” asked Lau.

“Where were they when the 1Malaysia Development Bhd scandal was taking place in the country?”

DAP secretary-general, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the country’s financial problems were due to Barisan Nasional. 

“While we knew about the 1MDB issue, we didn’t know the extent of the debts until we became government,” said Lim.

Beside 1MDB’s debts and borrowings, the government also owes taxpayers some RM19 billion in GST refunds and RM16 billion in income tax refunds.

“They would have continued spending this money had Malaysians not voted them out,” said Lim.

Sugarcane seller at the night market, Wong Meng Tee, 55, said MCA had no chance in Balakong despite the party hitting the ceramah circuit PH-style.

“I don’t see any sign they have changed. Although, the candidate (Tan) is a new face, all the others, who have been tainted are still there,” said Wong, as Chew spoke with passion despite the small crowd of listeners.

Another hawker Lee Mei Leng said MCA could criticise PH all it wanted but the party had yet to regain its lost credibility among the voters.

“What about the scandals that the previous government had committed? To this day, they are silent on it. Until they acknowledge these mistakes, they are not credible,” said the 50-year-old.

Since the now-defunct Pakatan Rakyat pact first won Selangor in 2008, the number of opposition legislators in the 56-seat state assembly had declined steadily from 20 in 2008, to 12 in 2013 and five this year. Except for one PAS assemblyman, all of the opposition representatives in Selangor are currently from Barisan Nasional lynchpin party, Umno.

In the 14th general election, Pakatan polled 41,768 votes in Balakong, PAS, 6,230 votes, and MCA, 5,874 votes.

The state seat became vacant after the death of its assemblyman, Eddie Ng Tien Chee, on July 20, in a road accident. – August 30, 2018.