Twin by election should be wake up call for UMNO & MCA

Massive victory for Pakatan in Balakong.

So, Pakatan has won Balakong and Seri Setia despite PAS campaigning for MCA (stranger things have happened) in the former and UMNO making way for PAS in the latter (this was not so unexpected).

In the case of Seri Setia, PAS managed to narrow Pakatan's margin of victory. But is that something to be happy about for PAS or BN? Previously it was a four-cornered fight. Today it's one to one and it was a clear victory for Pakatan despite UMNO and PAS working closely together.

In the case of Balakong, Pakatan had a resounding victory of 22,508 over 3,975 votes. If there's any consolation for MCA, it's that it did not lose its deposit (in GE14 it did). Wow, imagine MCA officials consoling each other, "Hey, we didn't do so bad.... at least we are able to get our deposit back."

If before this, UMNO and MCA (and by extension MIC) think there's any way they can get back to power anytime soon, they should be disabused of that notion by now. They will be out of power for decades and might possibly never come back to power. That doesn't mean Pakatan will forever be the government but whatever opposition manages to take over in the future -- it won't be in the form of BN as we know it. And it won't be in the form of UMNO, PAS, MCA and MIC (actually that combination will surely kill all of its chances).

UMNO might try to console itself by saying it still has quite a lot of Members of Parliament. True. But watch that whittle away due to defections over time and especially in GE14. We are looking at a wipeout.

MCA is already pretty much wiped out save for one Member of Parliament. But it should understand by now that it is throughout and utterly rejected by the Chinese -- the very people it's supposed to represent.

It doesn't take a political scientist to tell you what MCA's chief problem is. It is seen as UMNO's lapdog. That was that case before the elections. It was the case during the elections and it's still the case now.

MCA tried contesting under its own flag but what use is that? People still know it's under UMNO thumb. So whether they use their own flag or BN flag, it doesn't matter.

The twin victory was important. It's the proverbial final nail in the coffin of BN.