DAP wrong to assume all Chinese would automatically support the opposition party, says MCA president
Show of support: Dr Chua (left) with Chin at the SUPP headquarters in Kuching yesterday. — ZULAZHAR SHEBLEE / The Star
(The Star) – KUCHING: Don’t sound the death knell yet for SUPP. This is the message from MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek to certain quarters who might have written off SUPP following its worst polls defeat at the hands of DAP in the last state election.
He said based on DAP’s election records in the past 40 years, the party only achieved good results in 1999 and 2008.
However, SUPP had done well in many state and parliamentary elections until recently and it was unfortunate that some people were very quick to hand down the death sentence to SUPP.
Dr Chua paid tribute to SUPP for its continuous positive attitude and fighting spirit despite its poor showing in the 2011 polls.
He said the party was still very much committed towards serving the people as it did not give up its political struggles.
“I hope the people can see who is working and who is just talking,” he told reporters after a closed door meeting with SUPP’s top leaders here yesterday.
Dr Chua said DAP was wrong to assume that all Chinese would automatically support the opposition party.
“Voters change,” he said.
He said MCA had always understood the sentiment of Sarawakians towards peninsula-based political parties and respected that choice.
However, he said he could not understand why Sarawakians accepted DAP.
“DAP is a very West Malaysian political party,” he added.
He cautioned SUPP and the people that DAP would continue to play the blame game whenever something went wrong just to garner support.
“In Penang, if something goes wrong today, the DAP government will blame the previous government (Barisan Nasional),” he said.
On collaboration between MCA and SUPP, he said the two were strengthening their ties to better serve the people to improve their chances of winning in the coming general election.
Dr Chua assured that leaders at different levels of both parties would have more communication and sharing of information from now on.
“Sometimes we take things for granted. I know Datuk Seri Peter Chin (SUPP president) personally since 1980s but collaboration between our parties has been minimal.
“MCA has its strengths and experience and so does SUPP, so we’ll see how we can help each other particularly in facing the elections,” he said.
Dr Chua, who came at the invitation of SUPP, said the visit was also aimed at strengthening ties among Barisan component parties.
