It's a wake up call..Claimed Datuk Chua

The voting pattern among the Chinese in the Hulu Selangor by-election is a wake-up call for MCA leaders that the community is no longer just concerned with basic needs but also national issues, MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said.

Dr Chua said the party needed to relook its approach as just providing allocations for Chinese schools, halls and better drainage systems was no longer enough.

“Apart from basic amenities, the Chinese are now more concerned about national issues,” he told reporters here after Barisan Nasional claimed victory in the Hulu Selangor by-election last night.

Results from polling stations showed that there was strong support for PKR from areas where the community formed the majority.

Dr Chua said the MCA would also be more vocal from now on.

He said the party would also send more leaders to Chinese villages to interact with the people to make them feel that they were part of the national agenda.

“We need to listen to them and get their feedback as well as update them on national issues,” he said.

Dr Chua also reckoned that the internal problems in the Kuala Kubu Baru division had contributed to the weak support from Chinese voters.

“Infighting exists in all parties but we will have to talk to the people concerned,” he said.

He said the 1½-year party crisis had also affected the Chinese support in the constituency.

“This is a wake-up call for all leaders to put aside their personal differences and work for the good of the rakyat.

“Otherwise, we will be consumed by the political dustbin and be called a political dinosaur,” he said.

On Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s comment that the by-election was an acid test for MCA, he said Najib had made the reference not just to MCA but also himself and Pakatan Rakyat.

“If it was just a reference to MCA, there would not be so many big guns coming here to campaign,” he said.

Party secretary-general Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha said the party would conduct a post-mortem to find out the reason behind the voting trend of the Chinese in the constituency.

Ask whether the poor response from the Chinese voters would make it more difficult for MCA to deal with Umno, Kong said Malaysia was a multiracial country and all component parties must work together.

Source-The Star

Hello GTP...

The nation will usher in a new era of 1 Malaysia with the implementation of a New Economic Model and the delivery of results of the unprecedented Government Transformation Programme (GTP).

This will lead to a thriving modern economy, united society and competent government to address issues such as brain drain, capital flight and positive participation from all races, according to the GTP Roadmap launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today.

“Our mission of unity is not merely for the sake of harmony and good relations, but is critical to building a productive and competitive Malaysia and achieving Vision 2020.

“While our path to Vision 2020 may be difficult, we trust that the benefits will be greater, given the richer resultant cultural diversity and competitive advantage this approach engenders,” it said.

The Roadmap stressed that it was imperative to promote integration through inclusiveness in managing the polarity between assimilation and segregation in Malaysia’s multi-ethnic society.

“Many of the issues that we grapple with as a nation — and which the rakyat have identified as important — are in fact polarities, such as between rich and poor, between young and old and across religions, races and regions.”

Delivering the six National Key Result Areas (NKRAs) outlined in the GTP would reduce disparities and mitigate the sense of deprivation and discontent that were sometimes expressed in racial terms, it said.

The six NKRAs are crime reduction, combating corruption, improving education, raising the living standards of low-income households, upgrading rural basic infrastructure and improving urban public transport.

The Roadmap noted that the implementation of the National Economic Policy (NEP) had led to “certain unintended results”, among them a sense of deprivation and discrimination felt by non-Bumiputeras due to the over-zealous approach of officers of certain agencies.

There has also been a widening of the income gap within the Bumiputera community, causing rising discontent among certain segments of the community. These factors had pushed many Malaysians, especially professionals, to migrate and the brain drain had become increasingly serious.

Adding to the establishment of Ekuinas, the private equity fund to promote Bumiputera economic participation, and the liberalisation of the financial sector and 27 sub-sectors, more initiatives are expected to be announced in the first quarter of this year.

The government will upgrade the quality of national schools to be the schools of choice for all students with the provision of pupils’ own language and a more multi-inclusive atmosphere as among the steps to address education and national unity under 1 Malaysia.

Other initiatives include having 1 Malaysia boarding schools with multiracial students and awarding national scholarships to study at international universities based on merit.

In fostering a 1 Malaysia government, it has been proposed that the mention of race on government forms be eliminated except for the purpose of census and statistics.

It is also suggested that more Chinese and Indians be encouraged to join the civil service while officers of Bumiputera origin from Sabah and Sarawak will be upgraded. — Bernama