RAUB: It’s time for the Chinese community to “come home” to MCA, says Tan Sri Liow Tiong Lai (pic).
The former minister said that MCA has stayed with the people since its foundation and is still home to everyone despite its flaws.
“MCA is not rotten nor useless. MCA remains with the people. When you despise MCA, who can you go to? MCA is where your home is. I hope everyone will return home, and together let’s deliberate on ways to resolve issues facing our community," said Liow.
In a speech calling for the people to come together, Liow said it saddened him every time when the people’s problems remained unsolved in the past several years.
“It has been so hard to find the right people to help resolve the people’s issues here. It breaks my heart every time, but we had no say in the government's line-up," he said.
“It is only with the people’s mandate we can go all out with our resources to help the people,” added Liow, who also said that it is important to have Chinese representation in government.
“Let's come home, strengthen our home and make our country strong,” said the former MCA president at the launch of the Raub Parliamentary Gallery at Jalan Tun Razak on Saturday night (Nov 5).
The gallery also serves as the service centre for Barisan Nasional's 15th General Election (GE15) candidate for the Raub parliamentary seat, MCA's Datuk Chong Sin Woon.
The party’s Lim Teck Hoe - who is the Tras Chinese New Village head - is contesting the Tras state seat.
On this, Liow said that Chong still served the people on the ground in Raub and that he continued to serve the people in Bentong despite having no positions since the last general election.
“We stepped forward as individuals. We do things in our own capacities, but the strength and outcome are not as great without the people's mandate, which will enable us to do more as the people's representatives,” said Liow.
He added that having lost Raub twice and Tras thrice in the last elections, the people should have seen and experienced who is actually capable of delivering results.
“It’s time to get someone who can walk the talk and not those who only talk with no work. Let's not waste our vote but vote for leaders of calibre. We can make Raub even better, together with Bentong and Lipis as a connected agro-tourism attraction," said Liow.
“Let's give our utmost support to Chong and Lim for them to represent us,” he added.
Liow - who is Barisan’s candidate in Bentong - said the game-changing East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project should be seen beyond better logistics and growth economic activities for Bentong, Raub and Lipis.
He said that the realignment that was fought for by Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong would traverse from Mentakab to Port Klang via Bentong, adding that this will benefit the Pahang Barat Plus development to promote agriculture and logistics.
“Our durian, vegetables and local products need logistics to create and increase business values and bring economic development in these areas," said Liow.
Pahang Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail had reportedly said that Pahang Barat Plus would be a vehicle to help accelerate the development on the west side of the state, which has been described as being left behind in terms of growth.
Liow said that what the people want was real growth and development, instead of empty promises or fancy manifestos that were “boldly” recycled lies from GE14 that sounded unrealistic.
“We cannot be fooled a second time by Pakatan. This time they are talking again about abolishing toll fees and plans to recognise the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC)," he said.
“This is laughable and clearly they are trying to hoodwink the people,” added Liow.
He also said that DAP still put their blame on MCA whenever problems occur despite winning 95% of the people’s mandate with 42 federal seats in GE14.
In his speech, Chong called on voters to cast their votes rationally without labelling any candidates just because of the negative image of some leaders.
“Judge us by our performance and capabilities. It is us, the candidates, that the people vote for, to serve,” he said, adding that any generalisation was unfair to the people and candidates too.
“Voters should come to be practical, about who can really bring positive changes for the people,” he added.
