Good versus bad

If you want to form the federal government there are five states you need to conquer – Selangor (22), Perak (24), Johor (26), Sabah (25) and Sarawak (31). These five states control 128 seats in Parliament while the balance eight states control less than 100 seats (94 to be exact).

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Chua Soi Lek is a bad Chinese. That is not because he was caught on video having sex with a woman who is not his wife. It is because he is a leader of the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional. And anyone from Barisan Nasional is automatically bad. If they were good they would never be in Barisan Nasional.

Chua Jui Meng is a good Chinese. Although he was once a very corrupt health minister in the Barisan Nasional government, he has since left the ruling coalition and is now with the opposition PKR. Anyone from Barisan Nasional who leaves the ruling coalition to join the opposition is a good person even if he or she happens to be a corrupt Chinese.

Chua Jui Meng is said to be a Born Again Christian. This means he ‘died’ and got reborn. Muslims become ‘Born Again Muslims’ by going to Mekah to perform the Haj. When a Muslim completes the Haj it is as if he or she died and was reborn.

Chua Jui Meng may have become a Born Again Christian. But he is not returning the ‘under-the table’ money he took while he was yet to be ‘Born Again’ and was still with Barisan Nasiional.

That means, only from now on he will be good. The bad he did before he became ‘Born Again’ and all the illegal money he took before that is not part of the arrangement. The money stays with him. He does not have to make up for that sin by returning the money.

No wonder many MCA Chinese I know (including certain people in The Star) become Born Again Christians. It is a form of money laundering. All their old sins are erased and at the same time all the corrupted money they make is theirs to keep.

Funny people these Born Again Christians. They are almost like carbon copies of the ‘Born Again’ Muslims.

Anyway, that is not my main concern. What is my concern is the fact that Chua Jui Meng may not really be as ‘Born Again’ as he pretends to be. Did he really see the light? Did he really reform? Did he join the opposition because he has now seen the truth? Or is there more to this whole thing?

When he first joined PKR there were parties and celebrations all over. A big fish from MCA has finally come to his realisation. Chua Jui Meng will be pitted against Chua Soi Lek in Johor.

Now, take note, if you want to form the federal government there are five states you need to conquer – Selangor (22), Perak (24), Johor (26), Sabah (25) and Sarawak (31). These five states control 128 seats in Parliament while the balance eight states control less than 100 seats (94 to be exact).

This is the same with the Umno elections. You need to conquer the ‘big’ states to win the Umno party elections. So, Perak, Selangor and Johor are crucial, as is Sabah (there is no Umno in Sarawak yet but should be very soon).

Chua Jui Meng will therefore have to make sure he defeats Chua Soi Lek in Johore. But the problem is: Chua Soi Lek is more popular than Chua Jui Meng. Even the people in the ministry of health and the doctors/nurses in the government hospitals condemn Chua Jui Meng and sing Chua Soi Lek’s praises.

So how is Chua Jui Meng going to deliver Johor?

That is one problem. The other more pressing problem is: is Chua Jui Meng a Trojan horse? I sometimes wonder.

Chua Jui Meng was part of the team that hammered out and agreed on the PKR Sabah ‘peace treaty’. The PKR Sabah crisis had been settled and those who were going to leave PKR to form a new party together with Dr Jeffery Kitingan agreed to abort that plan and stay with the party.

Then someone in the party HQ did a U-turn (a favourite phrase nowadays). They denied the existence of the peace treaty and instead took disciplinary action against the dissidents. That smashed all hopes of PKR being able to take over Sabah.

But Chua Jui Meng was there. He was privy to what happened. Why did he remain mum and not speak up and instead allowed the matter to deteriorate beyond repair?

Did Chua Jui Meng do a U-turn? Did he suddenly lose his balls? Was he told to shut up? Or did he intentionally remain silent so that the matter could explode?

Chui Jui Meng could have said something to prevent this matter from going beyond the point of no return. But now it is too late. PKR Sabah is now in deep shit. And looking at the results of the recent Sarawak state election, it appears like PKR Sarawak is also in deep shit. Johor, also, does not appear any better.

So that leaves only Selangor and Perak. Can the opposition do well in Selangor and Perak? I really hope so. But even if they do that is not good enough. That is only two of the states. They also need the other three states.

Let us look at the opposition track record.

It did well in 1990. It went down in 1994. It did better in 1999. It got massacred in 2004. It excelled in 2008. What can we expect the opposition to perform in the next election?

That is certainly something to ponder on. The opposition has never done well two elections in a row. It is always one up and down the next. And this is what I fear we might see if we are not careful.