Liew Chin Tong: The road to Putrajaya is via Johor

Focus Malaysia:

The road to Putrajaya is via Johor, DAP’s Liew Chin Tong says

CEMENTING his fourth term as Johor DAP chief, Liew Chin Tong calls for his party members to unite and reach out to fence-sitters to win federal powers in the 15th General Election.

“Johor has 26 Parliamentary seats, in which Pakatan Harapan won 16 of them in the last polls. For Peninsula Malaysia alone, our coalition won 98 seats out of 165.

“Therefore, the road to Putrajaya is through Johor. It’s important for Johor DAP to work with our allies and consolidate our support, especially with fence sitters to chart the path to winning federal and state powers,” the former deputy defence minister told FocusM.

In the party polls held last week, Liew retained his post at the state party elections, which saw his team winning 10 of the 15 committee seats.

His challenger, Skudai state assemblyperson Tan Hong Pin, failed to make the cut after coming in at the 16th position.

Liew came in third place in the polls, with Bakri MP Yeo Bee Yin winning the most votes, seconded by former Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching.

Following the win, his fellow rival, former Johor DAP chief Dr Boo Cheng Hau urged Liew and Teo to get rid of the mindset that they owe former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad their allegiance, if they are sincere in uniting the party.

“It was the people, DAP and Pakatan Harapan as a whole that gave them the opportunity to become deputy ministers.

“Remember that you serve the people. Please work towards preserving Pakatan’s solidarity, especially in Johor,” Boo told FocusM then.

Focus on winning polls

On that note, Liew said that with Pakatan having some governance experience, people’s expectations on them have become higher and leaders have to change their mindset to meet that challenge.

kt notes: The 'big tent or catch-all party' phrase is used in reference to a political party's policy of permitting or encouraging a broad spectrum of views among its members. Isn't that the same as having the possibility of even Mahathir back as coalition leader, a snub to Dr Boo's reminder? 

Thanks Liew - Dei all, I may yet be back, hehehe

He added that a “big tent” Pakatan has a chance of winning if they conduct themselves as a Government-in-waiting, while constructing a vision to inspire Malaysians in building a better nation.

“We need to become a coalition of ideas, issues and concerns with like-minded parties to present good policies to voters.

“The pandemic has shown that people want solutions backed by science, not ad hoc policies made through press conferences.

“And beyond presenting a prime minister candidate, Pakatan needs to create a team of maybe 20 to 30 leaders who will champion these polices and we do have such personalities in our coalition,” he stated.

Whether DAP is open to working with Perikatan Nasional parties if there is no clear winner, Liew said his party should aim to win first and not think about post-election scenario for now.

“If we win outright, then there is no such need for cooperation with Perikatan parties,” he remarked. – May 10, 2021.