Politicians are like spouses, they need praise too - Wee

BALAKONG POLLS | MCA will better represent the people if it receives their support, said party deputy president Wee Ka Siong.

Drawing upon the analogy of domestic relationships, Wee told a ceramah in at the Perimbun night market last night that a wife would benefit from praise from her spouse.

"It is like when your wife is preparing cucumber soup for you. It smells good, but if you don't praise your wife when you enter the kitchen, she's not going to cook for you the next day.

"Politicians are the same. They need your vote, your applause and support. If you tell your wife that the cucumber soup is tasty, then she will cook '10-spice duck soup' the next day.

"Politicians, like your spouses, need praise and applause. I appeal to all of you to give a chance to Tan Chee Teong," he said in reference to MCA's candidate for the Balakong by-election.

Businessman Tan, 40, is challenging DAP's Wong Siew Ki, 32, in the Sept 8 election.

‘Buy one, free one’

Meanwhile, Wee said voting for Tan was a "buy one, free one" proposition, because Balakong voters would still have the Pakatan Harapan administration at the state level and a opposition lawmaker to help check the government.

"I know everyone hopes Harapan have ample time to rule Selangor ... They can rule and we will have someone to provide check and balance. This is ‘buy one, free one’, isn't it?" asked Wee.

Within the same vicinity, DAP, too, was staging a ceramah, albeit with a slightly larger crowd where Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Steven Sim and several Selangor legislative assembly backbenchers were speakers.

When Wong, the final speaker, took the stage, she opened with a joke by acknowledging that she could clearly hear the MCA stage.

"They seem quite emotional," said Wong, an activist filmmaker-turned-politician.

Wong cast doubts on MCA's claim that it could play a check-and-balance role because the current Harapan administration was now tasked with fixing problems left by MCA and their BN allies.

"Our MCA friends say we need check and balance ... Why didn't they say so 100 days earlier? If they have been providing check and balance (while they were in government), why do our ministers and deputy ministers now have to work so hard (to fix problems)?

"There are many holes for us to fix ... Who is responsible? Yet, MCA and Umno now say they want to play check and balance," she said. - Mkini