Tenang voters, please don’t endorse shame

 By Jackson Ng (Former Journalist)

The coming Tenang by-election in Johor is not only about electing a competent and more sincere assemblyman. It is also a test of how Malaysians, particularly the Tenang folk, value good moral.

Let us pray and hope that Tenang voters are not as idiotic as the 1,000 odd MCA central delegates who voted for an adulterer, one who cheats on his wife, as their leader.

The moral issue has unwittingly become significant because Tenang is one of the two state constituencies under the Labis
constituency, the other being Bekok.

Both the Labis parliamentary constituency and the Bekok state constituency are held by the MCA. The current Labis MP is Chua Tee Yong, the son of sex-video-tainted MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, who was its former MP.

For the Tenang folk to continue giving their ballots to Barisan Nasional (BN) in the by-election is akin to endorsing BN’s lack of value for high moral.

Use your ballots to tell the government to stop with its numerous unacceptable behaviour and injustice.

Giving this one state seat to the BN will not make any difference to the state government. But to continue giving it in this by-election is to endorse shame and adultery.

It is also endorsing BN’s arrogance and selective persecution. Voting BN is telling the BN: Please continue to victimise Malaysians.

Parliamentary Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was charged with engaging in unnatural sex and the case is ongoing. So was a JB tutor recently.

But, the MCA president is still not prosecuted after more than two years. If this is not a clear cut case of BN’s lopsided sense
of justice, what is?

Tenang is a mixed constituency. According to the latest voter register in June, the number of voters in Tenang has increased
to 14,592. The number of voters has only increased by 81 since the 2008 general election, but the number of Malay voters has reduced by 146, while there is an increase of 116 Chinese voters.

Indian voters and that of other races have increased by 148. The result of the shift means that, the proportion of Malay voters has dropped to 48.26%, a decrease of 1.4%, while the non-Malay voters have increased to 51.74%, an increase of
1.4%.

The Tenang folk, especially the Chinese and women folk, thus will have to decide whether they value high moral leadership.

The by-election is not about electing a state government. It is an opportunity for Malaysians to send the right message to all,
especially the government, that we uphold high moral values.