Beliau pernah dipuji dan dimaki kerana skandal seksnya suatu ketika dahulu. Beliau juga pernah jatuh dan bangun dalam politik. Dalam pemilihan MCA sebelum ini, beliau berjaya memenangi kerusi Presiden MCA.

Hari ini suatu kaji selidik mendapati hanya 9 peratus responden yang mengganggap Soi Lek sebagai pemimpin yang berkeupayaan. Ironinya, responden cenderung memilih Ong Tee Keat untuk memimpin orang Cina. Kaji selidik itu juga mendapati hanya 1 peratus berpendapat Koh Tsu Koon sebagai pemimpin yang berkeupayaan untuk memimpin masyarakat Cina.

Baru-baru ini, Soi Lek "bertegang leher" dengan Hishamudin Tun Hussein berkaitan dengan ekuiti Bumiputera yang diluluskan oleh Kongres Cina. Seperti yang dilaporkan oleh media, ada 12 resolusi termasuklah meminta kerajaan mengurangkan ekuiti 30% yang dikoutakan kepada orang Bumiputera secara berperingkat. Adakah Soi Lek sudah dapat menghidu sokongan yang semakin merundum lalu lantang bersuara untuk mengembalikan keyakinan masyarakat Cina?

Walau apa-apapun, kaji selidik hanyalah kaji selidik dan bukannya menggambarkan sokongan keseluruhan rakyat terhadap seseorang pemimpin. Biarpun begitu, pemimpin tidak seharusnya juga memandang sepi terhadap hasil kaji selidik seumpama ini kerana pandangan sebilangan kecil respondan itu kadang kala mewakili pandangan umum terhadap mereka.

Saya petik:

[TMI] KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 17 — Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek’s recent attempts to embolden the MCA appears to have failed to recapture the confidence of the Chinese community as a recent poll here found that only nine per cent of the electorate regard him as a capable leader.

Many believe that the veteran politician’s tainted past would hamper his ability to serve as an effective party president while some even think that he is an embarrassment to the Chinese community.

The survey, carried out between June 27 and July 25, found that although the former health minister’s popularity among the party’s grassroots had secured him the president’s chair during the party polls in March, the common Chinese voter still finds it hard to look past his 2007 sex scandal.

Instead, the voters were more in favour of his predecessor Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat to lead the second largest component party in the Barisan Nasional (BN).

Gerakan president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon scored even lower than his BN counterpart and was named by only one per cent of voters as a capable leader to represent the Chinese.

Both the leaders’ lack of support from the Chinese electorate was further expounded in a general sentiment among voters that the MCA and Gerakan, as Chinese-based parties, were becoming increasingly irrelevant.

Many people believe Dr Chua’s tainted past would hamper his ability to serve well, according to the findings of a recent poll. — File pic

A synopsis of the survey obtained by The Malaysian Insider showed that 62 per cent of voters were dissatisfied with the MCA’s performance, only 24 per cent were satisfied and only one per cent was very satisfied. Only 27 per cent felt that the MCA represented the interests of the Chinese community.

A similar pattern was shown for Gerakan, with 39 per cent of respondents expressing dissatisfaction while 19 per cent claimed otherwise.

The survey, conducted by a Malaysian research house, polled the opinions of 590 Chinese and 413 Malay respondents and included five focus group discussions with Chinese voters in several locations in Peninsular Malaysia...-Clara Choo