In order to implement the national reconciliation strategy announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak especially towards the Chinese community, the Barisan Nasional (BN) has to go through the Democratic Action Party (DAP).
This is the opinion of the Centre for Strategic Engagement Fui K. Soong who said the right person who should be talking with DAP about the matter is none other than Najib himself.
“The Chinese community have spoken through their votes that they want DAP to be their political voice instead of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA).
“If you want to reach out to the Chinese community, the only mechanism is to do it through DAP. Najib should be spearheading this,” she said in an interview with astroawani.com.
Fui said the DAP won the hearts of most Chinese voters this time around because the party used the social media to highlight issues close to the community’s hearts effectively.
“Their campaign approach is very Taiwanese. They used emotions in their campaigns. DAP knows how to capitalize on the sentiments of the Chinese community. So, the result should not come across as a surprise,” she said.
Meanwhile, Fui said the Chinese community, most of whom who voted for change, do not know what changes they want.
“They only know that they want change but they don’t know what exactly they want. The victimized feeling is a typical Chinese mentality. DAP finally hit it right,” she said.
The 13th general election saw MCA faring poorly by winning only six parliament seats out of 34 seats and 10 state seats out of 90 seats.
Casualties include MCA secretary-general and interim Transport Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha (Lumut), and the two contesting MCA vice-presidents Datuk Chor Chee Heung (Alor Setar), and Datuk Donald Lim Siang Chai (Selayang). Chor is the interim minister for Housing and Local Government while Lim is the interim deputy finance minister.
Another deputy minister who lost was interim Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Dr Hou Kok Chung (Kluang).
The BN government will embark on a national reconciliation process as part of a move to heal the racial and political divisions that have sparked in the wake of the 13th general election.
Najib said that the voting pattern is disturbing because the extent of the swing against BN because the Chinese voted for one side and the Malays for another.
BN won 133 of the 222 parliamentary seats in the 13th general election, forming the government, while Pakatan Rakyat (PR) won 89 seats.
Meanwhile, Fui also spoke to Astro Awani about the Chinese voters’ swing and the general election. View the video for details.
T K Letchumy Tamboo
Tue May 07 2013
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