KUALA LUMPUR – It is fine if MCA does not help the unity government campaign in the Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said.
Saifuddin, who is also Pakatan Harapan (PH) secretary-general, said that all is well between MCA leaders and other PH leaders, as evidenced from a meeting they attended recently.
“MCA remains a component of the unity government in Barisan Nasional (BN). So there’s no issue regarding MCA’s absence (from campaigning in the by-election).
“Just a few days ago, Wee Ka Siong sat next to me in a meeting of unity government leaders,” Saifuddin said, referring to MCA’s president.
“(There was also) Lawrence Low (MCA vice-president), who attended another Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional meeting, which I had chaired at the World Trade Centre last week.
“So, I take their attendance as a sign of their readiness to cooperate… I look at this from a positive perspective,” Saifuddin told reporters when met at the police and Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s Aidilfitri open house at Sri Sabah flats, here, earlier today.
Recently, Wee instructed MCA members not to help DAP-PH’s campaign in the Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election.
The party made this decision following remarks by DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke, who allegedly insulted the BN Chinese component, including calling them a party of “towkays”.
Nominations were filed for the Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election this morning, which is a four-cornered fight between PH’s Pang Sock Tao, Perikatan Nasional’s Khairul Azhari Saut, Hafizah Zainuddin from Parti Rakyat Malaysia and independent candidate Nyau Ke Xie.
This morning, BN chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said he still had hopes that MCA would help the unity government in the polls.
There are two weeks of campaigning before voters cast their ballots on May 11. Advanced voting is on May 7. – April 27, 2024