ALOR STAR: Umno has never lost the support of Malay voters as candidates from the party have never lost their deposit either in the general election, state election or by-election.
Kedah Umno information chief Datuk Shaiful Hazizy Zainol Abidin has hit back at MCA, reminding the Barisan Nasional component that the party has lost the support of Chinese voters after winning just two seats in the 15th General Election (GE15) held in November 2022.
Shaiful also reminded MCA that two seats are located in Malay-majority seats which have voted for candidates from the party.
"I am utterly shocked by MCA vice president Tan Teik Cheng's statement which pinned the blame on Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for the loss of Malay votes for Umno.
"Tan told Zahid to accept the fact that Umno has lost the Malay votes. I think the party that should accept the fact and reality is MCA which has lost votes from the Chinese voters.
"MCA is only capable of winning just two seats in the GE15. In fact, the seats are actually a 'sedekah' (gift) by Umno because the majority of the voters in the constituencies are Malays. That is why you have to look into yourself before making any statement, so that it will not backfire," Shaiful said.
In his statement on Tuesday, Tan has called on Zahid, who is also BN chairman, to accept the fact that the support of Malay voters to the coalition was waning.
This is after Zahid attributed BN's poor performance in the recently-concluded Kemaman by-election to "white voters" – a reference to BN core supporters, who did not cast their vote.
Commenting further, Shaiful said it should be made understood that the grassroots are finding it hard to accept the political cooperation between Umno and Pakatan Harapan (PH), but MCA as the component party should have faith in the strategy.
He added that the Madani government has the strength which would eventually be capable of wooing back the Malay support in the next general election.
"Since when did Umno lose the Malay votes in all seats that Umno contested be it the general election, state election or the by-election, Umno never lost a deposit. That proves that the Malay votes are still there and still strong.
"If Tan is using the Kemaman by-election as an indicator on how bad the situation in Umno is, he has to remember that Umno did not field a candidate from the party and Kemaman was (previously) won by Perikatan Nasional (PN).
"In fact, all the DUN (state seats) and Parliamentary seats (in Terengganu) were won by PN. The Umno candidate was contesting against the Menteri Besar of the state.
"However, for now we never lost a (elections) deposit and are still able to garner thousands of votes, despite contesting in tough seats. That showed Umno still exists in the people's mind.
"MCA should be lending their hands to secure the Malay votes instead of issuing 'clickbait' statements like this which further degrades the Malay votes," he said.
Shaiful hinted that MCA is probably scared of its own shortcomings as the party is no longer needed to secure the support of the Chinese voters in the BN-PH cooperation since DAP is capable of attracting the Chinese voters.
In his statement, Tan also told Zahid to stop daydreaming that the "10,000 white votes" still exists and to instead study on why Umno is losing its support.
In last Saturday Kemaman by election, Pas retained the seat after its candidate Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar defeated BN candidate Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor with a majority of 37,220 votes, outperforming the 20,000 majority votes won by the part in the GE15.