The BN candidate garnered 25,466 votes in the 6-cornered contest

pic by BERNAMA

NEWLY-ELECTED MP for Tanjung Piai, Datuk Seri Dr Wee Jeck Seng (picture) was sworn in yesterday, less than 48 hours after securing a landslide victory at Saturday’s by-election.

He took his oath in front of Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof who congratulated Wee for winning the parliamentary seat.

He is only the second lawmaker from MCA in Parliament after party president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong.

The Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate won by a thumping 15,086majority over Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) Karmaine Sardini in the Malay-Muslim majority electorate.

Wee had garnered 25,466 votes, while his closest rival, Karmine, secured 10,380 votes in the six-cornered contest.

The four remaining candidates received less than 3,000 votes combined.

PH chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad called for a thorough, serious and honest post mortem at all levels of the party to determine the reason behind the coalition’s loss.

According to Dr Mahathir in a statement yesterday, he foresaw a loss, but expected the margin to be smaller at only 2,000 votes.

Meanwhile, PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said PH’s recent defeat did not warrant any need for dissolution of Parliament.

He was responding to a call made by Opposition leader Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to dissolve the august house and call for fresh elections as PH has lost the people’s confidence.

BN chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the stance taken by Ismail Sabri was backed by all Opposition MPs.

“That is the stance of all the Opposition MPs. However, that decision is up to the prime minister. For us, what happened in Tanjung Piai was a signal. And the signal must be understood clearly,” Ahmad Zahid said at the Parliament lobby.

However, he stopped short of saying that the Opposition will call for a vote of no-confidence.

PKR deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, who is also Economic Affairs minister, described the results of the byelection as a resounding wake-up call by the people to PH.

In a statement, Azmin said the government coalition must unite their strengths to show that it remains committed to fight for the people’s interests and restore their confidence.

“Lessons in defeat are more enduring than those in victory. Let us overcome this defeat with humility and embrace a new resolve to further strengthen the coalition. We need to recognise that what we think is best for the rakyat may sometimes not be necessarily so.

“We must put our finger to the pulse of the rakyat to listen carefully and earnestly to their concerns and grouses. The government must take immediate action commensurate with the current reality, in order to enhance the socio-economic wellbeing of the people,” he said.