MP SPEAKS | I had earlier debunked the allegations of the phantom votes. I shall now move on to show how I won the Ayer Hitam parliamentary seat properly and fairly given the political tsunami.

Data from Malay-majority and palm oil estate polling stations showed that although BN did not achieve its target, I was able to rely on the support once again from these loyal voters.

In light of the shift of Malay centrist voters to PAS and Pakatan Harapan, my Chinese support base did not ‘crash’ as seen in other constituencies.

In fact, when compared to Chinese votes obtained by BN candidates in the state seats; I see a slight increase. I thank all my supporters for their continuous support and trust.

Semarang assemblyperson Samsolbari Jamali, with whom I have the honour to work for the past 15 years, played a significant role in securing support from the Malay community despite the strong headwind against us in the past GE.

He obtained 10,751 votes in the state seat, while I secured 9,475 in Semarang. Clearly, 1,276 voters from the Malay majority polling stations split their votes for state seat and parliamentary seat.

On the other hand, PAS candidate Mardi Marwan, who campaigned on issues relating to Act 355, had secured a total of 4,975 votes – that is 1,309 votes more than the total number of votes obtained by PAS candidates in the two state seats.

'Act 355 may have turned some voters away'

This phenomenon of splitting votes between state seat and parliamentary seat suggests that MCA’s firm stance on Act 355 and other issues may have caused dissatisfaction among certain quarters in the Malay community.

This may have led to them voting for BN candidate from Umno in the state seat but not the BN candidate from MCA in the parliamentary seat.

In light of this voting trend, I was able to win the parliamentary seat with a 303-vote majority due to the continuous support of my Chinese voter base. In the Yong Peng state seat comprising a higher Chinese voter percentage, I secured 383 votes more than the BN candidate for the state seat.

I believe this is due to undeniable results of my long service in the constituency, on top of the fact that this was also the first time that Ling Tian Soon was contesting in the area. A small-scale movement of voters is inevitable.

Similarly, for Liew Chin Tong, there was a drop of 155 votes for him in Yong Peng state seat as compared with his running mate, Chew Pek Choo.

Some media estimated that five percent Chinese supported BN whilst some say three to eight percent. However, I obtained about 24.6 to 40 percent of votes in four Chinese majority new village areas.

For example, in the Yong Peng state seat, I secured 245 votes in Kampung Baru Lam Lee (39.96 percent), 637 votes in Kampung Kangkar Baru (29.44 percent) and 29.07 percent in Kampung Baru Yong Peng.

For the Semarang state seat, I obtained 24.81 percent of the votes in the sole Chinese majority area of Kampung Baru Ayer Hitam.

Prepared to challenge election petition

All in all, I secured about 29.2 percent of the votes in the four Chinese new villages. To recap, I was able to secure about 23.55 percent votes in the Chinese and urban areas of Ayer Hitam, better than the single digit support towards BN in some other constituencies. I thank all of them for recognising my service to bring about development in the constituency for the past 15 years.

The 303-vote majority is the culmination of efforts by my team, MCA party members and BN colleagues through a persistent and hard fought campaign. You have kept the last fort for MCA. I cherish each and every single vote from the 17,076 voters who supported me. Thank you.

After analysing the results above, I hope readers realise that each vote is a form of recognition of hard work and commitment by the voters towards my comrades and colleagues as well as their trust towards me.

I want those who conspire to discredit and defame me to stop doing so and to respect the choice of the Ayer Hitam voters. Stop your illogical phantom votes allegations. The election is over and it’s time to move on.

I am prepared to challenge the petition vigorously to prove that every ballot voted for me was lawfully received. The truth remains that the efforts of my team can withstand any test.

I can accept the fact of losing power and votes. However, I firmly reject malicious character assassination.

I will continue to uphold the same political principles I have adhered to since 2004, the dignity of my team and the 17,076 voters who voted for me in GE14.

WEE KA SIONG is the MP for Ayer Hitam.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.