Tee Keat vs Rafizi or Tee Keat vs Soi Lek: PR don’t need friends to win GE-13

It was most amusing to read The Star’s analysis with the headline “No calm before the storm” (June 21, 2012).

Amusing because it shows the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) don’t need friends to win the next general election (GE) because the Barisan Nasional (BN) and Umno, with “friends” like MCA will ensure disaster for the ruling coalition.

Already MCA is fighting political demise in the next GE and BN is also struggling. Yet, the MCA’s mouth piece (The Star) ran an analysis that can be seen as promoting Rafizi Ramli and undermining or sabotaging the BN incumbent in Pandan, Ong Tee Keat.

I note the following content in the analysis:

> On his side, Ong, 58, has experience and a long track record that was quite distinguished until his brief but stormy stint as MCA president

This is an internal party matter. A general election involves the Chinese community and the public, not MCA members. Therefore, this is a news spin aimed at damaging the incumbent MP’s reputation.

> But that was before Rafizi came into the picture and BN will now have to reassess the situation (Waah! We have an instant hero in Rafizi that even BN has to reconsider Ong’s position who has been an MP for 22 years.

Fact: Ong is the only MCA MP to win in Selangor with a 2,900-vote majority in Pandan in 2008. But PR won with a combined 17,000-vote majority in Cempaka and Teratai (the two state seats in Pandan).

There must be a strong reason why the voters bucked the trend to support Ong in the political tsunami. This is obviously why Ong is a winnable candidate and anyone else from MCA or BN will probably not make it against PR in the next general election which must be held by next March.

Are we so silly: Blowing in the wind or breaking wind?

> “He is still popular on the ground; people say he is a good MP. He has core supporters there but it will be tough this time, especially against someone like Rafizi,” said a political associate of Ong.

Wasn’t it tough in 2008 for Ong? Isn’t it tough for anyone in a general election? Looking at the special highlight (underlined words) by the paper, it is clearly aimed at sabotaging Ong’s chances in …)

> The Terengganu-born Rafizi, as a PKR insider noted, has nothing to lose even though he is a newbie. He is up there in terms of brains and potential and has carved a name for himself after his exposé of the National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp) issue. Not everything he has said about the NFCorp issue has been correct or true but he uncovered the biggest scandal of the year.

Has The Star forgotten about Ong risking his political position to expose the multi-billion-ringgit Port Klang Free Zone financial scandal?  … biggest scandal of the year? I beg to differ!

> Ong’s stars are no longer as bright as before. In 2008, he was contesting as a deputy minister and an MCA vice-president.

(Please don’t belittle my intelligence! Ong has won in Ampang/Pandan even without holding a government position.)

>Today, he is standing on what one might call no man’s land in his own party. He was MCA president for only 17 months during which he made more enemies than he could handle. Shortly before he was ousted as MCA president, the influential Sin Chew Daily described him as the “worst president in the history of MCA”…

(This is obviously The Star-MCA sabotaging one of its own and also BN. Need I say more or analyse further this analysis that reeks an attempt to get rid of Ong or to ensure he loses even if he is fielded as a BN candidate.)

The Star’s analysis ended with this: Does Ong still has what it takes to hold on to Pandan after six terms as an MP? And is Rafizi, despite his hot-shot reputation in PKR, fantastic enough to finish off Ong?

The answer is blowing in the wind.

I say: “Who needs friends with enemies like that!”

Malaysia Chronicle