KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 25 — Twitter personality Stevie Chan, who recently announced his candidacy in the upcoming Port Dickson by-election against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today explained why he is doing so.
Chan believes his candidacy will send a message that he, as well as many other Malaysians are against a forced by-election or “Langkah PD.”
“I am contesting as an Independent in P132 Port Dickson because I am against Langkah PD,” said Chan in a statement posted via Twitter.
“Forced by-election is against the spirit of our democratic process.
“As a matter of principle, we should not condone the action of elected representatives taking for granted the mandate voters have given them.
“The slippery slope with us accepting this may lead to all future candidates being pointless placeholders for political manoeuvring, thus defeating the very idea of elected representation,” said Chan.
He said there is no immediate and urgent need for this by-election.
“Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is a free man, pardoned of all his previous convictions, and President of the biggest party in the ruling coalition.
I am contesting as an Independent in P132 Port Dickson because I am against Langkah PD. Here, I tell you why.
— Stevie Chan, Esq. (@tapaimalaya) September 25, 2018
Feel free to ask me any questions. My team & I will answer you the best we can. #KasiChan #Stevie4PD pic.twitter.com/7bCVj6horN
“Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has publicly agreed on a peaceful handover of power in two years time,” he said.
Chan pointed out that Anwar himself has stated that he plans to focus on parliamentary reforms should he win the by-election and return to Parliament.
But Chan questioned Anwar’s intentions, saying that the issue of parliamentary reform can be addressed by the many PKR MPs in Parliament and does not warrant his personal attention.
Chan also sought to explain his stand on various current issues, which were muddied by his outspokenness on social media previously.
He said he has since deleted posts that are not reflective of his official positions, culling thousands to arrive at just 336 tweets at the time of writing.
Retired admiral Datuk Danyal Balagopal Abdullah resigned as Port Dickson MP on September 12 to force a by-election for PKR president-elect Anwar to contest.
Nomination Day is on September 29 while polling is on October 13.
Chan, who is @tapaimalaya on Twitter, had previously announced his intention to contest on Twitter.
