Choose wisely, says MCA boss

Dr Chua Soi Lek also asks voters to look at the various issues cropping up in Pakatan Rakyat-led states.

INTERVIEW

PETALING JAYA: Voters get the government they deserve and therefore Malaysians must think carefully before casting their ballots.

“Are you so sure that the incoming government would be able to manage this country better than Barisan Nasional?” asked MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek.

The veteran politician said voters, especially the Chinese, must “not be swayed by how DAP is saying how they have done so well in Penang.”

“Is (Penang Chief Minister Lim) Guan Eng going to be the prime minister? If he is not the PM, I don’t think he can duplicate whatever he has done in Penang at the federal level. In this country it is the PM who calls the shots,” he told FMT in an exclusive interview.

Contrasting between the opposition’s “hypocritical” multiracial approach and BN’s style, Chua said Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak was projecting the image that he was a “leader of all races.”

Sand issue in Selangor

The MCA president also asked voters to look at the various issues cropping up in Pakatan Rakyat-led states.

“Just look at Selangor today, the sand issue is the big issue among the Chinese community. The netizens may not know about it, but any businessman will tell you that sand has become the most expensive comodity, rising from the previous RM300 to RM1,000 per lorry,” he said.

According to Chua, businessmen complained that they faced difficulty in obtaining sand because it was “monopolised by one company.”

“So [cases like] this debunks Lim’s theory… everyday say [open] tender,” he added.

Chua also said that with prices soaring in Selangor and Penang, these two Pakatan-ruled states would soon be “only for the rich.”

“The land premium for conversion in Selangor is one of the most expensive in the country. Of course people will say ‘what the hell has that got to do with us?’, Oh, it has everything to do with everybody! Because that is a basic component for houses,” he added.

Chua said land premium during BN’s administration of Selangor was about RM1,600 per house but now it had increased to RM16,000 per house.

“Since I myself was serving in Johor as an exco, I know very well. With one acre of land you can only make 10 houses. If the premium has gone up high, then the increase in cost will be passed down to the basic cost of the house.

“There was this one developer that gave me an example in Banting that five acres of land, under the BN, was RM80,000 for premium, now it is about RM800,000,” he added.

He said the same developer told him that since sand prices had also increased, a house that used to cost RM12,000 to build now costs RM40,000.

“So the developer sold his double storey terrace house for RM280,000 last time, now with the new administration he has to sell it at RM420,000,” he added.

Cronyism in Kedah

In Kedah, he said, cronyism was an issue, citing the example of a “big project of RM600 million but [it was done through] negotiated tender.”

[It was reported that Menteri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak had allegedly insisted on awarding a RM600 million a mega-project to an Umno-linked company]

“Why is Guan Eng keeping quiet? You see people who are educated they are warier, they know”

“In Kedah why is it that the state goverment is made up of three component parties, PAS, PKR DAP, but it is nominated by a committee only dominated by PAS? Why is DAP playing second fiddle to PAS, keeping quiet? Why is PKR keeping quiet?”

“If you are a component party of a state governemt, then the commmittee that monitors it should rightly be from all three parties,” he said.

Chua said that today in Penang, even environmental NGOs like Sahabat Alam Malaysia had raised the issue of hills being cut down for development.

“You can see all the protests, and they would say it was all engineered by BN, nonsense, all those are people staying at the foot of the hill,” he added.

Chua said that all these issues, although not highlighted, was known to the electorate.

“So the rakyat knows about it, don’t think the rakyat doesn’t know. It is just a lot of young people get very excited reading the net and don’t know about the problems the man on the street faces, ” he added.

Asked about how MCA transformed itself to what it was now, Chua said MCA was now reaching out to all races; had become more vocal on issues; and delivered a multitude of things for the public.

“We [now] don’t want to be perceived as a Chinese party. We are a Chinese-based party, but living in Malaysia we have to accept the fact that this is a multiracial country, and nobody can live in their own ethnic cocoons.

“We’ve also become more high profile. We articulate what I think should be done, many times. And we make no apology for it,” he said.

“We’ve delivered a lot of things that has not been done in the last two years, especially in terms of scholarship and mother tongue education. But we are not perfect, and I am one of those who believe that this is a multiracial country, where the Chinese, Malays and Indians, need to work with each other for the progress of the country.

“If each race thinks of only itself and never thinks of others, this country can never go far,” he added.