Kajang by-election: 'Last call' for MCA, Chinese community

Datin Paduka Low Lee Leng remembered that night like it was yesterday.

It was the moment before the stroke of midnight on March 8, 2008 -- the night of the 12th General Election -- when she received the news of her defeat in the Kajang state assembly seat. PKR’s Lee Kim Sin wrested it from her by a majority of 3,268 votes.

“I came out of a function, heard the calls coming in, I looked at the faces of my campaign workers and I felt something change in the air -- we lost,” said Low, who held the Kajang seat as its ADUN from 2004 to 2008.

Low (pix below), the first woman to be elected MCA Selangor state assemblyman (ADUN) in 2004, is now also the last Barisan Nasional rep to hold the Kajang seat -- thus far.

For Low, the heart rendering experience of losing the voters trust had taught her this: there were some things which are within your control, and there are others that are beyond it.

“We couldn’t do anything then... and now we know it is really going to be difficult this time, but we will continue with what we we have always done, which is to serve," said the MCA leader who claimed to have helped Kajang build roads, drainage and other basic infrastructure in one of the fastest-growing towns in Selangor.

Low is now one of the four MCA veterans -- all former reps in the Kajang area -- who had recently been appointed by the party as advisors for the March 23 Kajang by-election.

The four, which included Datuk Yap Pian Hon (former Serdang MP), Datuk TC Choong (former Kajang ADUN), and Datuk Hoh Hee Lee (former Balakong ADUN), now have a gargantuous task -- to help MCA win back the hearts and minds of the voters, especially the Chinese community.

For observers, Friday's announcement of MCA vice-president Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun as BN's candidate for the by-election was packaged with this narrative:

Vote for Pakatan Rakyat’s titan Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and you will get a 'self-proclaimed world class’ leader who will often be absent for the Kajang folk.

Vote BN, however, and you can get a Chinese opposition representative in the Selangor state assembly who will often be with the rakyat.

This -- BN's own 'Kajang move' -- may strike a chord with Choong, who was Kajang ADUN between 1995 to 1999, as he firmly believed that having a MCA state rep would provide voters an opportunity to be represented strongly in the Selangor state as a 'check and balance'.

“Basically, Kajang people don’t need much, but they do need a representative who is physically present, and can Anwar do that? He is not qualified, he has never been an assemblyman, he only has talking skills,” claimed Choong.

Likening the Kajang battle to the Vietnam War, Choong said: “In Vietnam, US went with all the big ships, but it was a mistake. The Viet Cong won through jungle warfare. For MCA, we want to do that, fight the local war. Let’s talk about local issues, such as traffic, flood, business licensing. Let Anwar talk about his national issues, his empty grand plan.

“You talk about the price increases? Fine, we will talk about price of licenses, the cost of rentals...that's what effects the people,” he said.

Chong had also cited an example where Pakatan had alleged to have failed in serving the people, it was when Pakatan councillors had boycotted the Kajang Municipal Council (MPK) just because they were unhappy with its president. This, said Choong, had caused a standstill for MPK for months, since late last year.

“The Kajang people have experienced a bad municipal council. When I was a YB, I was also a councillor, but now their assemblyman don’t even know how to do their jobs,” said Choong.

However, Choong also admitted that times have changed since he won the state assemblyman seat in 1995 by a majority of 7,705 votes. During the election in 1999, PAS’s Dr Shafie Abu Bakar managed to wrestle back the seat by a mere 37 votes.

“The Kajang folk today are different from those days. Many are now quite young, salary workers, who don’t have their roots here. They even ask their parents to vote against us,” said Choong of the growing number of young voters, many in the private sector and government in the semi-urban district.

For the MCA advisors, BN and MCA should to go back to focusing on what being an elected rep was all about -- to serve.

Yap, the former MP for Serdang (which had three areas in Kajang under the constituency), said that MCA and its candidate should work hard to solve the two of perennial issues still plaguing the semi-urban Kajang folk: traffic jams and flooding.

It is Yap’s hope that the BN candidate can prove herself to the people in the days prior to the polling day.

If people's attitude towards MCA changes, he said, it could also change the fate of MCA-- already battle-weary from having lost the last two times in Kajang, and in the General Election.

“This battle for MCA is very important for the party's survival.

"This is a test case. The first by-election after GE13. It will show the judgment of the Chinese community. We in MCA must go down to the ground faster, and go in full force, and reconnect with the people. Or else, we are finished,” said the Selangor BN information chief appointed during GE13.

Despite his excitement and bravado, Yap (pix above) shook his head with a wry grin when asked if he thought BN-MCA can really win against Pakatan’s titan, Anwar.

“Well, perhaps it is good enough if we reduce the majority, a few thousand at least it will be shameful for Anwar, who wants to prove a point,” he said.

Yap reservations are understandable, with MCA's bad showing in recent years. However, with veteran MCA leader Chew in the ring, perhaps a miracle can be achieved.

If such a MCA dream came true, Low would no longer be MCA's first and last woman in Selangor to serve the Kajang folk as its assemblyman. Perhaps Low's nightmare of that fateful night in 2008 she so easily recalls would no longer be so painful for her.