PETALING JAYA: A group of about 300 disgruntled doctors claim that they have successfully been campaigning against Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai at the Bentong parliamentary constituency since nomination day.
The doctors, mostly from the de-recognised Crimea State Medical University (CSMU) in Ukraine , said that they would also be campaigning against all MIC candidates in the nine parliamentary and 18 state seats nationwide in the last three days of campaigning period.
The group’s spokesman, Muhammad Nasir Abdul Aziz, said that they had distributed thousands of pamphlets around Bentong and the outcome was “wonderful”.
“The people are really disappointed with Barisan Nasional government ‘s discrimination against CSMU, a Ukrainian medical school which was de-recognised in 2005 for unknown reasons,” he told FMT.
“Even the people from rural areas also pledged to support CSMU to vote out BN in the Bentong constituency,” he added.
Nasir also thanked Pakatan Rakyat members and NGOs like ABU (Anything But Umno) who are really concerned about the fate of the medical students who are not recognised by the government.
“Hopefully, the doctors’ hard work will be a small contribution to the downfall of Liow,” said Nasir.
CSMU was de-recognised by the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) in 2005, and it is believed this was because of the large number of Malaysian Indian students pursuing their degree compared to Malay and Chinese students.
Weak position
Liow, who is also MCA deputy president, has held the Bentong parliamentary seat since 1999.
In the upcoming election, he is facing a straight fight with DAP-friendly candidate, Wong Tack, who is also former chief of Himpunan Hijau, a movement which is against the Lynas rare earth mining company.
When asked about their plans against MIC candidates, Nasir claimed that they have decided to campaign for only three days since the party is
already in a “deplorable” stage.
“They [MIC candidates] are already in a weak position. Thus, we are targeting the Indian votes only,” he said.
He added that today the doctors would go around Perak and Penang to distribute the pamphlets before heading to other states.
He also said that their main target is Cameron Highlands and Segamat parliamentary seats which are contested by MIC president G Palanivel and his deputy Dr S Subramaniam respectively.
“We want to ensure these two Cabinet ministers lose as they do not care about the welfare of the Indian community,” said Nasir.
Palanivel is facing a five-way tussle in Cameron Highlands while Subramaniam will take on Chua Jui Ming from PKR.
