Perak MB’s announcement on permanent land titles for new villages is latest blow

KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 — It just gets worse for the Malaysian Chinese Association. When Perak Menteri Besar Mohamed Nizar Jamaludin announced yesterday that his state government was prepared to give permanent land titles to new villages, party bigwigs looked as though the carpet had been pulled from under them.

Still finding it hard to come to terms with the heavy defeat of their candidates in Election 2008, party president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting and others know that their relevance to the Chinese community dims with every enlightened initiative by the People’s Alliance.

Rejected by the community for their silent achievers’ approach, the party has been experimenting with a more vocal approach, seeking the release of the Hindraf 5 and taking Umno to task for its arrogance.

But here is the rub: appealing to a particular community or race group post-March 8 seems to be old politics next to the approach DAP-PKR-PAS, which is to appeal to all Malaysians, irrespective of race and religion.

So when Mohamed Nizar of PAS said that Chinese in new villages will get permanent land titles, MCA politicians realised how dated their party looks and how hollow their warning about PAS being an Islamic party is going to sound from now on. They are stumped. Paralysed.

The MCA is dealing with political opponents who do not have the same hang-ups over religion and race that Umno, its partner in the Barisan Nasional, has. Ka Ting had to plead and seek the intervention of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi before the former Selangor Menteri Besar Dr Khir Toyo agreed to give farmers in Ulu Yam a 30-year lease.

It was the same in Perak where the MCA has to persuade MB Tajol Rosli to agree to give farmers in Bidor a 30-year lease. And even then the gesture was celebrated as a major concession given by the Barisan Nasional to the farmers.

Today, offering a 30-year lease looks half-hearted in comparison to what Mohamed Nizar announced yesterday. No wonder MCA politicians are wearing worried looks. The party they are seeking to reform may not have much of a role to play in the new Malaysia.

Worse yet, trouble has already started to brew in the party, with former Health Minister Chua Soi Lek firing a few shots at Ka Ting and suggesting that the party president was keen on building a dynasty.

Soi Lek made some pointed comments against Ka Ting in an interview with Malaysiakini. The Malaysian Insider understands that he received some negative feedback and some oblique threats of another scandalous tape being released on the market.

Soi Lek had to resign as a minister and from positions in the party after a tape of him having sex with a woman in a hotel room was widely circulated. His supporters believe that Ka Ting was behind the release of the tape.

The former Health Minister has not declared his intention to challenge Ka Ting for the party president’s position but that only appears a formality. He is likely to rope in Ling Liong Sik and other MCA veterans in his last stab at party politics.

The fight will be messy and could impair the slim hopes of MCA finding a place of relevance for itself in the fast changing political terrain.