SEPT 9 — It has been 23 years since a Malay became the leader of MCA. It’s not a joke.
That was when the then Encik Ghafar Baba, as Umno vice president, assumed the post of acting MCA president to solve the stalemate in the power tussle between Datuk Tan Koon Swan and the defeated incumbent president, Datuk Neo Yee Pan.
Encik Ghafar, who later became deputy Umno president and deputy prime minister and retired to be a Tun, demonstrated his acumen and skilful Malay leadership qualities to negotiate a truce which resulted in then deputy president, Datuk Seri Ling Liong Sik eventually taking over as president.
Interestingly, both Koon Swan and Yee Pan are Hainanese — widely seen and believed as headstrong and passionate — but their reign as the MCA president was equally the most tumultuous period in the party.
Deja vu and a generation later, the MCA is in turmoil again with Dato Seri Ong Tee Keat as party president. Coincidentally Tee Keat is also of Hainanese descent.
But that is where the similarity ends.
The MCA that Tun Ghafar presided over briefly then was strong and influential because it still had the strong support of the Chinese community. It was so strong that Liong Sik briefly assumed the chairmanship of the Barisan Nasional when Umno was declared illegal in 1988.
But today, it does not have that strength to overcome the personal ambitions of its leaders.
The MCA of today is living on borrowed time and is more dependent on Umno than before to stay relevant in the Barisan Nasional coalition.
Naturally, there is more pressure especially on Tee Keat to be more vocal on Chinese issues and take a contrary stand to Umno on Malay rights issues. This used to be the provenance of the deputy but Tee Keat’s deputy is no more.
The internal fight between Tee Keat and his deposed deputy, Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek threatens to further disintegrate the party that is already riven with factions.
Tee Keat’s ruthlessness in pursuing the ejection of Soi Lek as his No 2 has lost him many followers in the party.
The kungfu fighting between the top two is seen by many as akin to a lion dance where the two halves of the lion fight to the end for some salad and red packets to the noisy beat of Chinese drums.
But in the lion dance, there is more noise from the drums and firecrackers as the lions prance, swagger and pose rather than real violence. In the MCA’s current cycle of yet another fight, the party could be split forever by the antics of senior party leaders.
It is sad to see a once grand party like MCA being dragged to the verge of destruction again after 20 years by Soi Lek , a man who at 62 years old is well past his prime, in politics at least.
I realise its hard to believe, due to recent incidents, but usually a power tussle in a Barisan Nasional component party would be started by a younger challenger.
In the case of the MCA, the leaders of the older generation are spoiling for the fight while the younger generation are twiddling their thumbs waiting to take over what’s left of the party.
Maybe they are waiting to grow old and start to fight for their future then. Just like in the MIC, another party where men from the older generation fight to succeed Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, who has been in power since 1979.
Unfortunately, I can see nothing left for the young in MCA to take over today. It has become a shell of party living on its past glories as part of the Alliance that won Independence for Malaya.
And to add insult to injury, Tee Keat’s acrimonious public war of accusations with Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing over the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) issue has put him at odds with the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Abdul Razak.
After all, Tee Keat promised the PM that there would be limited fallout from his actions to investigate the PKFZ issue.
But Tee Keat’s own problems arise from the accusation that he received RM10 million from Tiong’s company Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd, the main contractor in the scandal-hit PKFZ project. It looks like Tee Keat’s days as the MCA President are numbered.
But it would not be from the alleged bribe, rather it is from the Umno leadership.
The Umno supreme council have long been upset at Tee Keat’s cavalier statements when commenting on Chinese based issues and ultimately the rights of the Malays as interpreted by the Federal Constitution.
They view Tee Keat as a weak leader unable to revive the MCA to help the Barisan Nasional attract the Chinese votes.
Perhaps this is also the reason why Umno has taken a harder position on Malay issues recently.
And Tee Keat may be seen as an obstacle and eventually a liability to the Umno cause.
This delicate taichi between Umno keris and silat experts and Tee Keat may end in the early demise of the latter, I expect.
But the question still remains whether Umno would be any better and survive after Tee Keat is gone. Or are we all just going through the motions of silat and kungfu for the salad leaves, like the lions in the dance.
Both Umno and MCA will have to decide whether we are doing this for entertainment, to finish off our opponents or seriously start serving the rakyat as we promised in our election manifesto last year.
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Actually the best would be that all future party leaders learn the Human Rights Charter Article 1 and apply common sense from there. For example in a Malay majority neighbourhood DO NOT build temples. Conversely in a Indian or Chinese majority neighbourhood, DO NOT build mosques and blare loudspeakers. And for non-Muslim religious sites long established, DO NOT build Malay homes or intentionally settle Malay families around those ! Or turn playgrounds and green lungs into religious areas !
MORE . . .
Make allowances for future areas to be gazetted as majority areas because the mosaic paradigm looks set to be the ideal living arrangement for a while until so many issues are resolved and allowances made. AND YET conceive 'Unity Neighbourhoods' with more goodies and incentives for those who stay in the unity concept areas . . .
BUT WITH . . .
Common sense application especially in cultural or religious practice - issues like pork abbatoirs and morning loudspeakers to be replaced with voice, strong incenses or paper offering pyres having proper space to disperse, ensuring proper and equitable allocation of cemetary land for ALL races in their preferred areas and very importantly in 'Unity Neighbourhoods' making sure there is a good balance of citizens of all types etc.. all while keeping the balance of 'enclaves' healthy so that any community does not feel that they are being edged out or being disenfranchised by another.
There really is enough space in Malaysia for all these alowances, please think of the unhappiness all the neglect of the above issues have created.
How are we supposed to assimilate Singapore with all the ungiving, unthinking and emotional types running our government? Alot of work yet to be done and here we are still struggling with removal of Apartheid expired Special Malay Privileges (like Malay Reserve Land . . . ever tried browsing and calling "Mudah" website advertisers as a non-Bumiputra? Very upsetting . . . ) and Medieval punishments in Syariah against personal sins, we need to be at par with the First World in citizen happiness and that is always alot of work.
Time to move forward !