ANOTHER BY-ELECTION?

Politics seems to have gone on an overdrive! The last few days, newspapers, Internet media and almost everyone I meet seem to be talking about Elizabeth Wong, the Bukit Lanjan state assembly person, whose nude or semi nude pictures had been circulated. Elizabeth, who is also a Selangor state exco, has lodged a police report on the matter and has offered to resign because of the unpleasant episode.
Let me state here that firstly it was wrong for someone in possession of such photos to distribute it in the public domain. It is all about her private life which should be left private. She has to deal with the perpetrator and get the police to bring him to justice. I sympathise with the energetic first term state assemblywoman.
Having said that, it must be noted that former Health Minister Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek had set a precedent back in 2007, on such issues after he resigned when a video of him having sex with his girlfriend was made public. He resigned from all positions at that time and made a fresh bid in politics a year later. He won the MCA deputy presidency last year and is back in mainstream politics.
Should Elizabeth follow this direction? That is the question the state assemblywomen has to answer herself. While I condemn the act of distributing her photos, she must also partly take the blame for the fiasco, taking into view talk about a purported video of her, which is also said to be in circulation. How could a trusted partner do this to her? My sincere sympathy for the 39-year old politician, who would now have to live with this scar for rest of her life.
If she chooses to vacate her post, then the Election Commission would have its hands full next month. It might just decide to hold three by-elections at one-go.
Bukit Gantang, Bukit Selambau and Bukit Lanjan! What a coincidence that all involves Bukits. Other MPs and state assemblymen of Bukits may need to watch-out for the time being as the time for the Bukit is not so good, I guess. (That's a joke by the way).
Statistics of the Bukit Lanjan state seat is as follows.
The seat has a total 25,550 voters. At the last election in March 2008, 19,394 voters turned-up to vote or 75.9% voter turnout.
At that election, Elizabeth polled 12,125 votes against incumbent assembly person, former Gerakan's deputy wanita chief Yong Dai Ying, who obtained 6,970 votes.
Elizabeth won the seat with a 5,155 vote majority, the second highest majority won by a PKR state assembly candidate in Selangor last year.
If a by-election is called, it will be a tough seat to contest as the seat is located in an urban area and most of the voters are non-Malays. This is based on the assumption that most voters in the urban and non-Malay majority seats are more critical towards BN.
In Bukit Lanjan, the Chinese consist about 52% of the voters, Indians 17 per cent and the rest are Malay voters.