OCT 14 — If today’s news and blog entries are correct, Ong Tee Keat will resign tomorrow and Liow Tiong Lai and Kong Cho Ha will be the new Number One and Two respectively. There will be no special election to elect a new leader. Ong and Chua Soi Lek will be moved out to the pastures, hopefully a happy retirement.
This is going ahead despite the clear evidence that the majority of party members and the Chinese community want a re-election. A new election would also put to rest the issue of political legitimacy. Otherwise whoever emerges as the new president and deputy will have no legitimacy whatsoever.
We have a problem in this country where people are trying to justify getting into power using the “constitutional” route, that is, the legal route. The problem of political legitimacy is exactly that — it is political and cannot be solved by legal means. Let me give a simple example.
Pak Lah won the 2008 General Elections — it is fact that BN was returned with a simple majority — and he is legally the right person to be the Prime Minister. Yet he was forced to step down because he had lost political legitimacy due to BN losing its two-thirds majority in parliament. If UMNO had stuck to the legal route, Pak Lah will still be the PM today.
The question to ask is why is MCA so afraid of democracy, that is, let the delegates choose a new leadership team? The central committee can decide to resign and hold new elections. This will enhance MCA’s reputation.
It is also the simplest way to stop further problems in the party. Once you get elected, you have the political legitimacy to proceed to the next general elections.
Please don’t use the excuse that holding another election will split the party. This was the standard excuse used by so many parties that it has become a habit where self-serving leaders use this excuse to secure their positions. Not only is it not democratic but it actually promotes feudalism. Political leaders in this country are always trying to find excuses to stay in power.
When you really think about it, competition for posts is actually good for a party. It gives its members a sense of empowerment and actually help to create a sense of belonging. If you want committed members, you must give them the power to elect the leaders. Otherwise you are treating them like cattle. The fastest way to stop political feudalism in Malaysia is to open up the democractic space, and the first place to do this is the political parties.
I hope I am wrong and that the MCA leadership are progressive people who actually believe in democracy. I hope the news reports are wrong and the central committee will decide to hold fresh elections for all leadership positions.
If they don’t hold fresh elections, I’m afraid MCA will be punished in the next general elections. The voters out there are not stupid. They can see power-hungry politicians a mile away.
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