MCA man takes humiliation in stride, eyes Gelang Patah in GE14

The battle for the Gelang Patah parliamentary seat in the 13th general election was to have been between DAP's Lim Kit Siang and MCA's Jason Teoh.

But intense lobbying for a showdown between Lim and the then outgoing Johor Menteri Besar Abdul Ghani Othman saw Teoh being jettisoned, after MCA surrendered the constituency to Umno.

Teoh, who is the Gelang Patah MCA division chief, shared a video on Friday which retold the experience.

The video titled: "Jason Teoh's suffering” (Kesengsaraan Jason Teoh), starts with his MCA team in revolt.

Clad in MCA uniforms, the team complain about how hard they have worked, and want to dismantle their own banners in apparent frustration after losing the seat to Umno.

However, Teoh stops them and tells them to go home and rest. After Teoh's team empties the office room, he crushes a tin can and throws it at the MCA flag in the office in a fit of anger.

The next scene shows Teoh being urged to quit MCA by an unknown man, and members of the public making snide remarks about him, stating that he would have lost against Lim anyway.

At home, Teoh faces complaints from his family for not spending enough time with them, who tell him that all his work had been for nothing.

In GE13, Lim ultimately defeated Ghani in Gelang Patah, but the MCA also suffered its worst electoral performance under BN.

The video then shows Teoh's allies also withdrawing from the MCA election, citing the party's weak state.

Towards the end of the video, Teoh is seen going for a run, with a voiceover repeating the words "505 was a humiliation," a reference to the date of GE13, May 5, 2013.

The video ends with a depressed-looking Teoh finally standing upright and declaring that he would "prove" himself to the people of Gelang Patah.

Responding to the video, Johor DAP chairperson Liew Chin Tong took to Facebook to call it the "first blockbuster of 2018, a nominee for the Best Comedy award."

MCA has actively lobbied for the Gelang Patah parliamentary seat to be returned to the party and Johor BN has also endorsed the decision.

If approved by the BN central leadership, Teoh is likely to be fielded in the constituency.

Lim, who last month underwent surgery to remove a tumour, had stated he was personally inclined to defend the seat, unless the DAP needed to move him for strategic reasons.

Lim garnered 54,284 votes in the last general election against Ghani's 39,522.

Meanwhile, DAP Johor chief Liew Chin Tong, in a tongue-in-cheek response, said the short film could be in the running for an award.

"The first blockbuster of 2018, a film for the best comedy award," he said.

-Mkini