Seputeh: Lamb no match for the lion

MCA has chosen to send a number of lambs into lions' dens in the polls. Some like Victor Gu and Sheah Kok Fan face the easier task of battling for the state seats of Kampung Tunku and Damansara Utama in Selangor.

Carol Chew Chee Lin, however, has the unenviable task of making her debut in the parliamentary seat of Seputeh in Kuala Lumpur. She will not only have to break DAP's stranglehold but unseat the popular parliamentarian Teresa Kok Suh Sim.

Chew, 27, who worked under Wanita MCA head Dr Ng Yen Yen in her portfolio as deputy finance minister, shares similarities with Kok who entered politics some 15 years ago.

Kok too was sent as a lamb into Ipoh Barat, then just 27 and political secretary to party stalwart Lim Kit Siang. Inexperienced and lacking a service record, she lost to MCA's Ho Cheong Sing by 4,869 votes. But that was just the start she needed.

After that defeat, she quit her job and went back to school (Universiti Malaya), adding political science to her communications degree. She earned her masters degree with a thesis entitled ‘Factionalism in Umno during Dr Mahathir's era (1981-2001)’.

She returned to the battlefield in the 1999 election against MCA's Dr Sua Chong Keh. Although, Seputeh was a DAP stronghold, Sua was expected to win. He had proved popular after a number of projects to alleviate flooding in Old Klang Road.

But due to his infamous “stand and squat” remark, which received a lot of play in the Chinese media, Sua lost by more than 5,000 votes.

Bolstered by her victory, Kok returned to seek the Seputeh mandate in 2004. This time, she increased her margin to 12,895 against MCA's Chin Yen Foo.

The constituency this time around has 76,891 voters - the overwhelming majority are Chinese (89.2 percent), followed by Indians (5.4 percent) and Malays (4.8 percent).

Tough job

While MCA hopes that Chew will emulate Kok’s success come the polls on Saturday, but the novice has had a taste of how difficult the task will be.

Last Thursday, Chew went to the OUG night market to meet the people. Already late (after attending a 100-table dinner at Sri Petaling), she swung into action immediately with a group of Wanita MCA members paving the way.

But as she walked beside Kok’s ceramah lorry, she must have questioned her party's wisdom in sending her to contest the seat.

While Kok pelted out, "Where were they (MCA) when Jerai and Kinabatangan MPs made sexists remarks yet again?" to almost 1,500 people, Carol found out how hard it would be just to shake hands.

For despite her youth and enthusiasm, people reacted with the kind of surprise and awkwardness when approached by strangers on the road and many shied away from her.

It was not the same, for ‘Auntie Teresa’, who manage to keep the crowd after the hawkers and traders had decided to call it a day at 11pm. The crowd actually grew after the night market had closed.

For the Seputeh residents that night, it was not about who they should vote for - and for many of the Chinese, it was also not about the number of dinners hosted or about the "development and stability" promised to them.

After all, Seputeh has been a DAP home since the days a single-lane bridge near Taman Desa connected a series of kampung baru to the constantly flooded market at 4½ mile Old Klang Road.

The national issues aside, and despite the wave of anti-government sentiment flowing through the electorate, it will be a very simple choice for voters.

It will be about bringing back Auntie Teresa or picking a newcomer who has just parachuted in from Petaling Jaya.