BN unsure of win if polls in June, says Dr Ling
(The Malaysian Insider) – Barisan Nasional (BN) is unlikely to regain Selangor or win the next general election if Parliament is dissolved next month, former MCA president Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik has said.
Dr Ling said that the federal coalition would not be “ready” by then as there were still a lot of “unsolved” issues affecting the present administration.
“The best time to have the GE is a debate without answers. When to hold GE? When you think it’s a good time, in reality it’s the contrary, so the chances of the 13th GE being held in June is not high,” he told Sin Chew daily in an interview published today.
“To be more accurate, BN is unsure whether it can win in the coming GE. I think, (BN is) not ready yet. Some say it’s June, but I don’t know if they dare to (hold elections in June), there are a lot of unsolved crisis,” said the former transport minister.
Dr Ling (picture) also said that he was unconvinced that BN would wrest Selangor back from PR in the next GE.
This, said the MCA leader, was because many opposition leaders in PR states were not bogged down with moral or corruption issues with the exception of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Dr Ling hailed Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Datuk Seri Khalid Ibrahim and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng as examples of PR leaders untainted by corruption and abuses of power.
He added that the implementation of a healthy two-party system in Malaysia was still viable based on his observations of the outcome of the March 2008 general elections.
“But, this still depends on the quality of the opposition, if they are terrible, then there cannot be a true and effective implementation of a two party system.
“If they are very good like Penang…actually, DAP has been doing quite well, but then there was a squabble between DAP chairman Karpal Singh and Penang deputy chief minister Ramasamy,” he said.
BN suffered its worst polls performance when it lost five states to PR back in 2008, under the leadership for then-Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
After taking over in 2009, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak set about making a slew of reform pledges, including liberalisation of the economy as well as a repeal of draconian laws such as the Internal Security Act (ISA), and even set up a bipartisan parliamentary committee to look into electoral reforms in Malaysia.
Najib is expected to call for elections as soon as this June after months of delivering one-off aid payments throughout the country as well as having unveiled his administration’s minimum wage policy last week.
