MCA Risks It All
By Dajmarizal Zolkipli
Formed in 1973 as the successor to the Alliance (Perikatan), Barisan Nasional (BN) has been Malaysia's ruling political party since Independence. Until the March 2008 ‘political tsunami’, the BN coalition has never lost its two-thirds majority in the general election. The vast majority of BN's seats are held by its three largest race-based parties –Umno (Malay), MCA (Chinese) and MIC (Indian) – each of which is sectarian in nature, though officially supporting racial harmony.
As a coalition party, BN has always done its best at practicing racial harmony within and outside the party. The harmonious leadership has allowed the rakyat prosper whenever BN delivers its manifestos and promises. You can’t take this away from BN. The party has been their code of ethics that has embodied the political landscape in Malaysia.
The relationship among BN parties including Gerakan, PPP and its component parties in Sabah and Sarawak is the core success of BN in ensuring the its longevity as the ruling party in the country. Unlike what can be seen in Pakatan Rakyat, the coalition between all BN parties never seems to have stirred up serious problems. All of its coalition parties are working hand in hand with the utmost respect to their leader and also the rakyat.
But perhaps, all the positivity from the BN coalition has never been severely tested like what can be seen in the present political landscape. MCA, for one, is going through a difficult phase especially after the apparent Chinese vote swing in the Sarawak state election last month. Clouded with insecurity, the party recently announced that it will not be taking up Cabinet posts if it underperforms in the next general election. The main mission at hand is to redeem itself by regaining the dwindling Chinese support.
MCA’s dwindling popularity is a demise of its own doing. It’s bad enough that the party has chosen a leader who was involved in a sex scandal as their president, now that very person they had elected has been making the situation worse for MCA. We hear a lot of talk from party president Chua Soi Lek who has been issuing controversial statements of which many backfired.
Time and time again, when defending the party’s stand on certain issues, Chua would come up with shortsighted statements that have caused uproar among the public, and this is not what the party really needs with the general election looming.
With BN starting to gain momentum after a series of wins in by-elections around the country, MCA on the other hand have been losing voters’ confidence. Their credibility in championing the Chinese cause is also lost and now their relevance is at stake.
Many questioned Chua’s competency as MCA’s president. Unlike his predecessor Ong Tee Keat, Chua is not as in tune with Non-Chinese culture as Ong is. In a popularity contest among the Malay community, Ong would prevail over Chua hands down. One would think a 64-year-old Malaysian political leader would be in touch with the beliefs and customs of non-Chinese races but this is not the case with Chua. His comments towards a PAS candidate Normala Sudirman during the Tenang by-election exposed MCA to onslaughts of attacks from the Opposition. At that time Chua said Normala was rude for refusing to shake hands with men. Chua’s incognizant remark just shows his skin-deep understanding of Malay-Muslim customs. It’s downright shameful for a veteran BN leader to be so detached from the Malay culture and any other non-Chinese Malaysian cultures for that matter. A Malay friend would have told him some time in his life that it is considered haram for Muslims to touch a stranger of the opposite sex unless, of course, he never had a Malay friend. In all respects, Chua had failed to carry Najib’s/BN’s 1Malaysia torch.
Not only that, in the rude awakening of the Chinese vote swing in the Sarawak state polls the MCA president gave an excuse by attributing its nemesis’ success to its alleged racial campaign. Ironically, just after accusing DAP of being a racial party, Chua invited DAP to go hand in hand with MCA to boycott Utusan Malaysia over the Malay daily’s call for the’ 1Melayu, 1Bumi’ movement. Although DAP turned down the invitation, Chua’s call did invite protests from right-wing Malay rights NGO Perkasa.
Recently, the former Health Minister also made remarks challenging the opposition to amend the constitution and abolish Malay special position recently. His baseless challenge was only successful in making MCA more prone to attacks while the party faithfuls scratch their head over their president’s confusing remarks.
Apart Chua giving MCA bad publicity, there are also internal problems especially that relating to the PKFZ scandal in which Transport Ministry was allegedly involved. There were also reports of some shenanigans going on in the Tourism Ministry which, like the Transport Ministry, is headed by an MCA minister.
All these problems has given rise to the notion that MCA has lost its credibility and is no longer relevant to the Chinese except for its cronies and rich Chinese businessman who looks after the party in exchange for their patronage.
On the opposition’s side, DAP continues to be a beacon of hope to the people, or at least that’s what the Sarawak state election results tells us. The public feels that DAP has and will always have an important role in championing the struggles of the underprivileged and the oppressed. As far as the Chinese Malaysians are concerned, DAP is where the action is – now more than ever in this post-2008 tsunami era. Time is running out and the quickest remedy for rejuvenating MCA is by abandoning Chua and fully concentrate on the party’s objective before it loses more support of the Chinese.
Formed in 1973 as the successor to the Alliance (Perikatan), Barisan Nasional (BN) has been Malaysia's ruling political party since Independence. Until the March 2008 ‘political tsunami’, the BN coalition has never lost its two-thirds majority in the general election. The vast majority of BN's seats are held by its three largest race-based parties –Umno (Malay), MCA (Chinese) and MIC (Indian) – each of which is sectarian in nature, though officially supporting racial harmony.
As a coalition party, BN has always done its best at practicing racial harmony within and outside the party. The harmonious leadership has allowed the rakyat prosper whenever BN delivers its manifestos and promises. You can’t take this away from BN. The party has been their code of ethics that has embodied the political landscape in Malaysia.
The relationship among BN parties including Gerakan, PPP and its component parties in Sabah and Sarawak is the core success of BN in ensuring the its longevity as the ruling party in the country. Unlike what can be seen in Pakatan Rakyat, the coalition between all BN parties never seems to have stirred up serious problems. All of its coalition parties are working hand in hand with the utmost respect to their leader and also the rakyat.
But perhaps, all the positivity from the BN coalition has never been severely tested like what can be seen in the present political landscape. MCA, for one, is going through a difficult phase especially after the apparent Chinese vote swing in the Sarawak state election last month. Clouded with insecurity, the party recently announced that it will not be taking up Cabinet posts if it underperforms in the next general election. The main mission at hand is to redeem itself by regaining the dwindling Chinese support.
MCA’s dwindling popularity is a demise of its own doing. It’s bad enough that the party has chosen a leader who was involved in a sex scandal as their president, now that very person they had elected has been making the situation worse for MCA. We hear a lot of talk from party president Chua Soi Lek who has been issuing controversial statements of which many backfired.
Time and time again, when defending the party’s stand on certain issues, Chua would come up with shortsighted statements that have caused uproar among the public, and this is not what the party really needs with the general election looming.
With BN starting to gain momentum after a series of wins in by-elections around the country, MCA on the other hand have been losing voters’ confidence. Their credibility in championing the Chinese cause is also lost and now their relevance is at stake.
Many questioned Chua’s competency as MCA’s president. Unlike his predecessor Ong Tee Keat, Chua is not as in tune with Non-Chinese culture as Ong is. In a popularity contest among the Malay community, Ong would prevail over Chua hands down. One would think a 64-year-old Malaysian political leader would be in touch with the beliefs and customs of non-Chinese races but this is not the case with Chua. His comments towards a PAS candidate Normala Sudirman during the Tenang by-election exposed MCA to onslaughts of attacks from the Opposition. At that time Chua said Normala was rude for refusing to shake hands with men. Chua’s incognizant remark just shows his skin-deep understanding of Malay-Muslim customs. It’s downright shameful for a veteran BN leader to be so detached from the Malay culture and any other non-Chinese Malaysian cultures for that matter. A Malay friend would have told him some time in his life that it is considered haram for Muslims to touch a stranger of the opposite sex unless, of course, he never had a Malay friend. In all respects, Chua had failed to carry Najib’s/BN’s 1Malaysia torch.
Not only that, in the rude awakening of the Chinese vote swing in the Sarawak state polls the MCA president gave an excuse by attributing its nemesis’ success to its alleged racial campaign. Ironically, just after accusing DAP of being a racial party, Chua invited DAP to go hand in hand with MCA to boycott Utusan Malaysia over the Malay daily’s call for the’ 1Melayu, 1Bumi’ movement. Although DAP turned down the invitation, Chua’s call did invite protests from right-wing Malay rights NGO Perkasa.
Recently, the former Health Minister also made remarks challenging the opposition to amend the constitution and abolish Malay special position recently. His baseless challenge was only successful in making MCA more prone to attacks while the party faithfuls scratch their head over their president’s confusing remarks.
Apart Chua giving MCA bad publicity, there are also internal problems especially that relating to the PKFZ scandal in which Transport Ministry was allegedly involved. There were also reports of some shenanigans going on in the Tourism Ministry which, like the Transport Ministry, is headed by an MCA minister.
All these problems has given rise to the notion that MCA has lost its credibility and is no longer relevant to the Chinese except for its cronies and rich Chinese businessman who looks after the party in exchange for their patronage.
On the opposition’s side, DAP continues to be a beacon of hope to the people, or at least that’s what the Sarawak state election results tells us. The public feels that DAP has and will always have an important role in championing the struggles of the underprivileged and the oppressed. As far as the Chinese Malaysians are concerned, DAP is where the action is – now more than ever in this post-2008 tsunami era. Time is running out and the quickest remedy for rejuvenating MCA is by abandoning Chua and fully concentrate on the party’s objective before it loses more support of the Chinese.
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