In support of Tony Pua for Petaling Jaya Utara

I promised to lend support to bloggers standing in this General Election. I have yet to meet Tony but he is already well known as a good catch for DAP. I did a quick search and found that he is mentioned in Wikipedia as follows:-

Tony Pua
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Tony Pua Kiam Wee (born 1972) is a Malaysian politician. Pua was the former Malaysian CEO of Cyber Village Sdn Bhd, a SESDAQ (SGX secondary board)-listed company. In early 2007, he disposed of all his interests in the company and tendered his resignation to join the Democratic Action Party (DAP).
Pua graduated from Keble College, Oxford University with a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics under a scholarship from the MTC Foundation in 1994. Prior to that, he received Asean and Shaw Foundation scholarships to pursue his "O" and "A"-Levels in Raffles Institution and Raffles Junior College.
In the 2008 general election, Pua is running for the Parliamentary constituency of Petaling Jaya Utara on a DAP ticket. He is running against the incumbent, Chew Mei Fun, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry for Women, Family & Community Affairs, and Deputy Chief of the Malaysian Chinese Association women's wing.[1]

He was embroiled in a controversy when he wrote about the bloated civil service and incurred the wrath of the great Khairy who did not take the offer to debate over it. I supposed he is more used to talking down on lesser citizens.

I have posted 'Goliath hitting below the belt...' on January 3, in support of Tony against NST which I think is relevant for this purpose. I reproduce it for the convenience of those who missed it earlier:

I still cannot get over NST’s cheap shot at Tony Pua.

I would tend to agree with the blogger, whose posting I have read and from which I have the following excerpt, I think, from Malaysia Today’s website:

“I take it as a sign of weakness. When Tony spearheaded a full alternative budget, he probably accomplished something pretty unprecedented. You can imagine BN getting very nervous about this sort of thing.

I have never bought the argument that the Opposition is not ‘qualified’ to form an alternative government, and this is just further proof.

In fact, the government ignored the document completely, refusing to debate its obvious merits. All they can do is to resort to undignified attacks which have nothing to do with Tony’s abilities as an economic advisor.”

I do not know Tony Pua personally, but I think his credentials look good and I was happy for DAP that they managed to rope him in. For someone with the right qualifications and experience in business, it must have been the passion for politics, which made him decide to take the plunge. I also think Tony considered the timing was right, with the General Elections just round the corner.

What has DAP got to offer? I am sure he envisaged the struggle ahead, pitting against the juggernaut of an entrenched political party which had ruled since Independence in 1957 and never been ruled. BN’s lack of empathy with the people was so apparent with the many illogical, contradictory and ‘we know best’ statements made by the leaders. Yet, DAP in particular, and the opposition in general, will never be able to form the next government. So the 'alternative budget' in question is rather academic to start with.

Though Tony has similar academic qualifications as Khairy, with PPE from Oxford University, the former has the nation at heart while the latter's 'self interest comes first' was pretty fast and obvious.

We all know that besides qualification and experience, we still need exposure in whatever fields we are joining. To expect Tony to be able to second guess down to the last details, without the benefit of a ‘hands-on’ experience in government policy making, is really absurd.

To discredit him based on the performance of the company he had sold off is like expecting a matchmaker to guarantee that the bride will bear children!

Off hand, I can think of allegations that our de facto Finance Minister, Nor Yaakob, was responsible for billions of ringgit lost in forex speculations, yet he was recalled to manage the country’s economy.

I dare say, a capable opposition candidate can do a better job by just being transparent and accountable, without the political baggage of cronyism and political patronage to perpetuate the party in power. Just imagine the amount of reserves the government would have accumulated over the years if not wasted on major corrupt practices and leakages.