Don't lose hope on Chinese votes, Umno veep tells delegates

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Umno vice president Hishammuddin Hussein advised Umno members not to lose hope when it comes to Chinese votes, despite the Tiong Hwa community's wholesale about turn away from the BN, in the last general election.

Using recent BN victories in the Sarawak state election as well as the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar twin by-elections as examples, Hishammuddin who is also defence minister said that what is important is to prove to the Chinese, that the ruling party can look after their interests.

 

"Our experience in Sarawak, in Sungai Besar and in Kuala Kangsar (have shown us), we must not give up on Chinese support.
 

"This largely depend on how we conduct ourselves and how to show them that our leaders can fight for them," he said, when opening the Bukit Katil Umno AGM in Malacca today.

 

Meanwhile speaking to the audience before Hishammuddin, ex-Malacca MB Ali Rustam hopes that Chinese voters will return to the BN fold and help them re-capture the Bukit Katil parliamentary seat in the upcoming polls.

 

Reminiscing on him winning the seat in subsequent general elections since 1999, Ali related that his defeat in the 13th general election was the first time in history that all the Chinese ballot boxes were not in his favour.

 

"Return to BN, O ye Chinese voters. Though last time its not that you did not give us votes, just that it was too little, in all Chinese majority ballot boxes, we lost. I have never lost before since 1999 and becoming chief minister.

 

"Unprecedentedly, for the first time in history I lost in all Chinese ballot boxes," he said.

 

As such the Bukit Katil Umno chief appealed to Chinese voters in the state to give BN another chance and vote for it in the coming polls.

 

"So I ask our (Chinese) friends to forget GE13 because at the time it was 'ini kali lah'. But now, 'Ini kalilah kita ambil Bukit Katil' (Let it be this time that we retake Bukit Katil). We must be sincere, and Allah willing Umno will work harder too.

 

"I hope sentiments in the 2004 general election will be resurrected next year or in 2018," he said alluding to GE14 which must be held within the next 10 months.

 

While present Malacca Chief Minister Idris Haron also appealed to BN components MCA and Gerakan to help Umno wrest the Bukit Katil parliamentary seat from PKR.
 

He said that to achieve victory in Bukit Katil, it would require not only Umno's sincere efforts but also the cooperation of all BN component parties.

 

"Let us take back the Bukit Katil parliamentary seat. To our friends in MCA and Gerakan, help us, we need your help. If it is just the Malays alone, we will not recapture Bukit Katil. Help us MCA... Gerakan.

 

"Help us reward Bukit Katil residents with a credible parliamentarian, that will work and serve the rakyat og Bukit Katil forever, that is our pledge," he said to the cheers of the 500 or so delegates.
 

In GE13, Ali who was then Malacca BN chairperson garnered 40,720 votes, falling to PKR's Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin who gained 46,167 votes and winning with a majority of 5,447.

 

After the loss, Ali had expressed his disappointment with Chinese voters for deserting BN in the last general elections, asking "Apa lagi cina mahu?". - Mkini