Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email Looks like campaign buddy no more buddy 🙂 Earlier, I wondered what would be the reaction of new MP Kamalanathan on Perkasa’s nonsense. He follows PM Najib’s views which is disagreement.
Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali, who was instrumental in helping newly-minted Hulu Selangor MP P. Kamalanathan(picture) clinch Sunday’s poll, seems to have lost a friend in the MIC leader.
Kamalanathan, who had earlier stood by Perkasa’s struggles, did an about-turn today and took pains to stress to The Malaysian Insider that Ibrahim calling on the government to punish Chinese voters for failing to support them, was his own personal view.
“I do not share that view. It is his personal opinion. I do not condone anything that is extreme like this,” he firmly said when met at the Prime Minister’s office here today.
Kamalanathan also came to the defence of Barisan Nasional component parties MCA and Gerakan, which Ibrahim had taken to task for failing to garner Chinese support.
“It is not true what he said (about MCA and Gerakan). They worked very, very hard in the by-election. Very hard. I saw it with my own two eyes the amount of work and effort they put in.
“I have spoken with (MCA president Datuk Seri) Dr Chua (Soi Lek) and (MCA deputy president Datuk Seri) Liow (Tiong Lai) and they are extremely committed to the cause,” he said.
He pointed out that the prime minister himself had clearly said that the government would not ignore the needs of the Chinese community in Hulu Selangor just because they had not supported BN in the by-election.
“Today is proof of this. We will not deprive our citizens the right to have a good life in this country,” he said.
Kamalanathan was referring to the function at the Prime Minister’s office earlier this afternoon when Datuk Seri Najib Razak made good on his promise to help rebuild the SRJKC Rasa schoo by handing over RM3 million to the school board of representatives.
“We lost the Chinese votes because of something else… something was just not quite right and MCA and Gerakan should not be taken down for this.
“My responsibility now is to identify what happened and see what the real crux of the problem is,” said Kamalanathan.
He added that Najib was very sincere in his commitment to develop Hulu Selangor, and to deliver on all the pledges made by BN leaders during the campaign period for the by-election.
BN has made over RM70 million worth of pledges for allocations and development in the large constituency.
“Najib has also requested that (deputy election director) Datuk Nor Omar to list down all the promises made by our leaders so that we can deliver on them,” said Kamalanathan.
He assured the people of Hulu Selangor that the development process would be an ongoing one and that even those who had not voted for the BN would benefit from it.
“Yes, it is true that Ibrahim’s statement was irresponsible but Najib today proved that we will not be listening to those demands,” he said. Kamalanathan had secured a 1,725-vote majority victory over PKR’s Datuk Zaid Ibrahim during Sunday’s poll but had failed to recapture support from the Chinese community.
The poll results showed that less than 30 per cent of the community had chosen BN in the poll, down from the 35 per cent who voted for them in Election 2008.
Ibrahim had called the Chinese voters ungrateful and had urged the government not to fulfil its pledges for allocation and development in the Chinese areas of Hulu Selangor.
He had also asked the BN government to ignore the demands made by the MCA and Gerakan, claiming the two parties had failed to help BN wrest back Chinese support.
His statement has resulted in a mad scramble by BN leaders to explain to the people that Perkasa’s demands would not be met and that the Chinese voters would not be punished.
During the function earlier, Najib had also issued a clear warning to all parties never to dispute the promises made by BN.
Aiks, not even a week, already not keeping election promises and rhetoric?