MCA Youth has accused the opposition of distorting and politicising the physical election rallies ban announced by the government for the upcoming Malacca state election.
Its spokesperson Ryan Ho Kwok Xheng said the government’s move to ban any form of election-related rallies starting today until Nov 27 is simply aimed at reducing the risk of Covid-19 infection and rise in cases.
“Unfortunately, this effort has been misunderstood and the opposition wasted no time in seizing the opportunity to distort and politicise it.
“We do not want another round of post-Sabah state election case spike to recur. We have come this far and it is unlikely that we want a repeat of total lockdowns again,” Ho said in a statement today.
He argued that even though more sectors are allowed to reopen and operate under the National Recovery Plan, and the interstate travel ban has been lifted, it should not be an indication to enable face-to-face or physical campaigning for the election.
“This is a state election and not a general election. Thus, it is only natural and expected that heaps of party machinery from throughout the country will be concentrated in Malacca,” he said.
Ho (photo) added that the situation will only grow more complicated if there is a cluster breaking out as a result of the state election and spreads to the whole country afterward, something which happened after the Sabah state polls last year.
Reminding that the R-naught (Rt) rate of Covid-19 in the country has climbed from 0.87 to 0.88 yesterday, Ho said there are alternative choices for candidates to campaign for the election.
The Health Ministry yesterday reported 4,782 new Covid-19 cases, the lowest since June 22.
“For almost two years we have implemented virtual meetings or discussions. Thus, there are no problems for us to carry out the same for this Malacca state election campaign.
“The fact remains: there are a variety of approaches to campaigning without the need for activities involving physical rallies.
“I am confident that political parties have already formulated their strategies to face this election in the new normal,” Ho said.
Main medium
He also urged the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to play a role in monitoring every aspect of campaigning during the state poll.
He said MCMC should ensure campaign contents do not touch on sensitivities that can lead to racial strife as well as slander from political parties to run down each other.
“Social media will definitely become the main medium of campaigning during this state election.
“Therefore, MCMC needs to be more assertive and impose the appropriate action on those who abuse this platform to spread defamatory or fake news,” he stressed.
Ho added that politicians should also be more politically mature and not resort to dirty tactics to “snare people’s ballots”.
“If the elected candidates are truly qualified to represent the voice of the people, they will surely be the choice of the voters irrespective of the medium used,” he said.
No attention
Malaccans will head to the poll on Nov 20, after the state legislative assembly was dissolved this month due to the defection of four assemblypersons.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has announced all forms of physical campaigning are banned, a move which political parties from both sides of the aisle have criticised.
Umno's Ahmad Maslan, the secretary-general of Khairy's own party and MCA’s coalition partner, said Umno disapproved of the "broadly termed" restrictions after similar criticism by the opposition.
PKR's Setiawangsa MP Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad offered a solution in Parliament yesterday, suggesting that the government emulates Singapore during the island republic's polls last year by granting equal broadcast access to all election candidates.
But the proposal received no attention from Communications and Multimedia Minister Annuar Musa, who made no mention of it during his winding-up speech in Parliament yesterday. - Mkini
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