JOHOR BARU: Disunity among Pakatan Harapan component parties has cost the coalition the people's confidence, says an MCA youth leader.

       MCA Youth central committee member Heng Zhi Li, who is also Tanjung Piai youth chief, said that this has contributed to them losing several elections.

       "The division among Pakatan's component parties due to the difference in political beliefs and inter-party conflict has made people lose confidence in their ability to govern the nation.

       "This could be clearly seen when Pakatan was defeated in the Tanjung Piai by-election where Barisan Nasional secured the seat with 65% of support from the Chinese community and more than 15,000 majority votes.

       "This trend continued in the subsequent Melaka and Johor state elections," he said in a statement here on Saturday (June 4).

       Heng said this in response to a statement by Johor Parti Amanah Negara chief Aminolhuda Hassan, who was quoted by a portal as saying that MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong was delusional to say that the Chinese community now favoured Barisan Nasional.

       "I wish to express my deepest regret toward the comments made by Aminolhuda on Friday (June 3) towards Dr Wee's speech (during the Barisan convention).

       "Dr Wee had said that Pakatan's arrogance and its decision to turn a blind eye to voters' interest after their failure to defend their seats in Johor is the main reason why they are being rejected by voters.

       "The people were suffering for 22 months under Pakatan's administration. They have failed to deliver their election promises, including bringing down the cost of living, revitalising the economy and stabilising the political situation," said Heng.

       He added that the return of Chinese support for Barisan, especially from the younger generation in Chinese-majority seats such as Yong Peng, Pekan Nenas, Bekok and Paloh, proves that the Chinese community has more confidence in Barisan.

       "Aminolhuda also said that the low voter turnout in the Johor election resulted in Pakatan's defeat.

       "If it had been true that there were a large number of absentees supporting the Pakatan administration, why would these voters not turn out to cast their vote for Pakatan? Obviously, this is a self-conflicting statement.

       "Aminolhuda and Pakatan leaders should give more constructive comments for the benefit of Johoreans instead of playing with racial sentiments," he said.