Soi Lek says will vote PKR if it drops Malay privileges

KUALA LUMPUR, April 29 — Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek has said that he would be the first to vote for PKR if it dared to abolish Malay privileges.

“If PKR dares to amend the constitution and cancel Malay privileges, I will be the first to raise my hands to vote for PKR,” the MCA president said in a video posted by his party on video-sharing site Youtube.

He did not say if he personally supported abolishing Malay privileges.

“Why not? No other political party has talked about this. If yes, Malay votes will be gone. No other race will cancel their rights and privileges,” the MCA president said in the video.

In the video titled “hope should be based on political realities in the country,” the former health minister appeared to suggest that the Chinese community should accept the current political scenario dominated by Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN).

He admitted, however, that Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) promises gave the public hope but labelled these as lies.

“I admit that the opposition’s words reflect the wishes of the younger generation because they create a sense of hope. But over time people will see that it is a lie,” he said.

Dr Chua said hope must be based on political realities, suggesting that it can only be fulfilled by supporting MCA within the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

“So you can have your hope but the hope should be based on the political realities in the country,” he said.

In the 84-second video, he also reminded the public that PAS’s main political agenda was to promote Islam.

Dr Chua’s call follows the April 16 Sarawak election where BN lost nearly all Chinese-majority seats to PR.

The result echoed the loss of Chinese votes in the March 2008 general election, where MCA won just 15 seats in Parliament — fewer than half the 31 MPs it had before.

In the aftermath, he and Utusan Malaysia both called for the Chinese-dominated Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) to be dropped from the state Cabinet for its dismal performance.

However, MCA and the Umno-owned newspaper have clashed over the latter’s call for a “1 Melayu, 1 Bumi” campaign to unite Malays against the growing threat of Chinese political power.