Onn Hafiz Begging Chinese Don’t Boycott Mahkota – Where Was This Pro-Najib-PN Guy When Akmal Attacks The Chinese?

 Chinese voter turnout in the upcoming Mahkota by-election definitely will be low. The burning question is whether it will be lower than the July’s Sungai Bakap polls, which saw only 47% of the Chinese electorate turning out to vote. As a result of the protest votes, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s own party PKR suffered a major humiliation when it lost by a bigger majority votes – almost triple.

 

However, Mahkota isn’t Sungai Bakap. As a start, Sungai Bakap is a state constituency in Penang and the incumbent was Perikatan Nasional. Mahkota is in Johor, a state where extremist Islamist party PAS and racist Bersatu are despised by even the Bangsa Johor Malays. Crucially, incumbent Barisan Nasional won Mahkota in 2022 with a healthy majority despite a three-corner fight.

 

In the last Johor state election in March 2022, Barisan’s candidate Sharifah Azizah Syed Zain (16,611 votes) won the seat with a 5,166-vote majority against candidates from Pakatan Harapan (11,445 votes), Perikatan Nasional (7,614 votes) and Warisan (555 votes). Anyway, Barisan managed to snatch the seat due to low turnout (57% compared to 2018 state election’s 84%).

Because Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan are now allies in the federal government, it’s assumed that Pakatan’s friendly 11,445 votes would be automatically transferred to UMNO, which will theoretically boost Barisan’s majority by more than 15,000-vote majority based on the same low turnout of 57%. It’s a sure win for the United Malays National Organization (UMNO).

 

In fact, UMNO does not need any Chinese votes at all. Based on the 2022 state election results, Barisan alone can retain the Mahkota seat with nearly 10,000-vote majority – even if all the Pakatan Harapan supporters stay at home and play mahjong or watch Netflix. Therefore, the 34% Chinese and 7% Indian voters in Mahkota can “safely boycott” the by-election this round.

 

But if Mahkota is “sure win”, why did Johor Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) Onn Hafiz whine and cry like a baby, repeatedly begging Chinese voters in the Mahkota constituency not to boycott Barisan Nasional candidate Syed Hussein Syed Abdullah? Making a mountain out of a molehill, Onn Hafiz claims that if the ethnic Chinese boycott Barisan, investors will think that Johor is unstable.

Actually, it would be the Johor CEO’s cushy job that would become unstable if the Chinese boycott the arrogant UMNO-led Barisan Nasional coalition. Investors, both domestic and foreign, couldn’t care less about one state constituency. After all, Barisan has been given a huge mandate in the Johor state election after winning 38 of the 56 seats on March 12, 2022.

 

As the Barisan’s Mahkota by-election director, it would be embarrassing if Onn Hafiz fails to defend the seat which UMNO had never lost, except in the historical 2018 General Election after crooked Najib Razak led the Barisan to its stunning defeat and lost power for the first time since independence in 1957. Yes, there is a remote possibility that it could lose Mahkota.

 

If both Malays (54.51%) and Chinese (34.52%) refuse to come out to vote for Barisan, UMNO could lose. The chief minister would be in trouble already if majority of Chinese voters choose to stay home and sleep due to the high expectation that the incumbent should win no less than 10,000-vote majority – even if the turnout is as low as 50%. It’s a litmus test of Onn Hafiz’s leadership and popularity.

And UMNO’s sure-win card would flip to disaster if the Chinese voters stunningly swing to the Opposition just to teach UMNO Youth Chief Akmal Salleh a lesson. Don’t laugh – according to the recent Merdeka Center Youth Survey 2024, the minority ethnic – 56% of Chinese and 62% of Indians – felt their communities experience unfair treatment and discrimination.

 

It’s certainly a recipe for disaster when you mix Akmal with racism and discrimination policies. To make the formula even more explosive, the local currency Ringgit has been skyrocketing 7% against Singapore dollar in the past 3 months, thanks to U.S. Federal Reserve slashing interest rates by 50 basis points, making it unattractive for Chinese voters working in Singapore to return to Mahkota to vote.

 

Besides, they had just returned home for the recent Mid-Autumn Festival. Does the Johor CEO think the Chinese are both stupid and silly – and have nothing better to do – than to come back and “vote for Akmal”? Onn Hafiz should beg the Chinese voters to refrain from voting for Perikatan Nasional, not begging them to vote for Barisan Nasional.

While Barisan Nasional state government won’t collapse even if it were to lose Mahkota, Pakatan Harapan’s Amanah will certainly demand for the return of Mahkota (the seat which it had snatched from Barisan in the 2018 General Election) if UMNO could not defend it. This is the real reason why the UMNO leader in Johor is under pressure to not only win, but win with style.

 

Johor Chief Minister Onn Hafiz was merely crying wolf when he argued that it would be unfair to punish his state government administration, which had nothing to do with Akmal terrorising Chinese economic and education interests at the federal level. He has urged Chinese voters in Mahkota to refrain from making emotional decisions and boycotting the UMNO candidate.

 

Exactly what grass has he been smoking? Aren’t Onn and Akmal produced from the same factory called UMNO? The fact that he dares not even express his disagreement, let alone condemnation, over Akmal’s extremism and terrorism against the Chinese community speaks volumes about the two birds of the same feather flocking together.

When UMNO has the numbers to form the Johor state government on its own, it greedily rejects any idea of unity government. But the same UMNO shamelessly welcomes the unity governments in Perak, Pahang and the federal government with Pakatan Harapan when it lost spectacularly. And when Democratic Action Party (DAP) can’t deliver the Chinese votes on the silver platter, UMNO goes berserk.

 

Which part of “one vote for BN-UMNO is one vote for Akmal” that Onn Hafiz doesn’t understand, or pretends not to understand? The Chinese are not punishing him, but can’t wait to punish both Akmal and UMNO for interfering, threatening and insulting the minority race. It just happens that Mahkota is located in Johor with a sizable 34% Chinese electorate ready to inflict pain on UMNO.

 

UMNO better prays none of its state assemblypersons or parliamentarians drop deadfrom nowtill the 16th General Election, because chances are the Chinese will continue to punish the party for as long as Akmal continues his gangsterism. Did the Johor Menteri Besar really think the Chinese don’t know his party is playing “bad cop good cop”, and wanted to have the cake and eat it too?

Yes, UMNO unleashed a mad dog called Akmal tasked to attack the Chinese to impress upon the Malays who had deserted the corrupt party. At the same time, UMNO unleashed Chinese-speaking Syed Hussein to impress upon the Chinese who wanted to punish the racist party. Playing bad cop good cop, UMNO thought it would be a brilliant strategy in hoodwinking both Malays and Chinese at the same time.

 

Here’s the proof that UMNO has been behind Akmal all along. The gangster was awarded the “Datuk” title in conjunction with the 75th birthday of the Melaka governor Mohd Ali Mohd Rustam (who was a former corrupt UMNO warlord) on August 25 – for a job well done in bullying and intimidating the Chinese, just like back in the old days when Barisan Nasional walked the corridors of power.

 

But Onn Hafiz was not innocent himself. He was as corrupted as former Prime Minister Najib Razak and as treachery as his uncle Hishammuddin Hussein. Onn Hafiz, the nephew of both Najib and Hishammuddin (whom are cousins), was the despicable operator of the now-defunct portal Malaysian Digest. His company Vital Spire Sdn Bhd was paid by crooked Najib to support and defend the 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Bhd) scandal.

More importantly, Onn Hafiz, who got the job as Johor Chief Minister mainly due to his close association with Tengku Mahkota Johor Tengku Ismail Idris, was a traitor. Together with Hishammuddin, they had tried – and failed – to force UMNO president Zahid Hamidi to resign immediately under the pretext that Zahid had led the party to its humiliating defeat in the Nov 2022 General Election.

 

Hishammuddin was responsible for instigating 10 Barisan Nasional MPs to support rival Perikatan Nasional chairman Muhyiddin Yassin as 10th Prime Minister after the 15th national polls that produced a hung Parliament. The list included Barisan component parties – two lawmakers from MCA (party president Wee Ka Siong and Wee Jeck Seng) and one MP from MIC (Saravanan).

 

Had traitors Hishammuddin and his nephew Onn Hafiz’s evil plan succeeded, the country would be on the path to a Taliban State under the radical and extremist regime of Perikatan Nasional. The Chinese community doesn’t vote by emotion, but vote based on a calculation that Mahkota is the best platform to send their message that their votes are mightier than the Samurai sword Akmal used to threaten the Chinese.

 

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.

- financetwitter