Chua pulls MCA deeper into obscurity with anti-PAS rhetoric

Gooi Hsiao Leung, Malaysia Chronicle

According to Chua Soi Lek, MCA has at most, 18 months to prepare for the next General Election. The MCA President has personally kick-started a scaremongering campaign to woo back Chinese voters from Pakatan Rakyat to UMNO-led Barisan Nasional.

Two weeks ago, at the Kelantan MCA AGM, Chua Soi Lek warned that a PAS leader would become the next Prime Minister should Pakatan Rakyat win the next general election. In Kedah last week, Chua Soi Lek again warned the Chinese community not to be optimistic that once PAS rules the government, the country will be free from corruption and other problems. He went on to say that some of the most corrupt countries in the world are Muslim-majority countries – but fails to acknowledge that Malaysia, under the UMNO led administration, is already a corrupt nation.

Two days ago, Fong Chan Onn, Chairman of the MCA think tank of Strategic Analysis and Policy Research (INSAP), made the ludicrous statement that MCA had a duty to explain to Chinese voters the ‘Hidden Picture’ of Pakatan Rakyat should it come into power at the federal level. According to Fong, MCA will be able to win back Chinese support by explaining two notable points, firstly, that a leader from PAS would be appointed to become Prime Minister because PAS was the best organised political party compared to its partners, DAP and PKR, and secondly, that a PAS led government would most likely adopt an Iran like model where the ulamas would be running the country.

As a seasoned politician, one would expect Fong to be the last person making such laughable statements. As I’m sure Fong is fully aware, following democratic conventions, the Prime Minister of our country would be chosen from the party which commanded the most seats in parliament and not by means of which party had the best political structure. Equally, it would be ridiculous to assert that either PAS nor any of its partners, the DAP or PKR, has the slightest intention to abandon the existing system of parliamentary democracy practiced in our country in favour of Iran’s model of government.

MCA is desperately scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas to revive itself and appear relevant, after being rejected by its Chinese base in the last General Election. Chua Soi Lek’s baseless scaremongering tactics using PAS to intimidate Chinese voters into voting for UMNO is nothing new. It has been used incessantly by his predecessors over the past 50 years, and was clearly shown in 2008 to be no longer effective with the electorate, as voters have matured and overcome BN’s scare tactics using religion and race, including the May 13 episode.

Chua Soi Lek needs to be reminded that in 2008, Chinese voters across the country overwhelmingly voted for PAS, PKR and DAP as the alternative front, rejecting UMNO’s BN-led corrupt and racist politics. Chua Soi Lek should instead take heed of Ong Tee Keat’s internet poll last year where a majority of its members clearly wanted MCA to pull out of BN.

I urge Chua Soi Lek to instead concentrate on using all of his efforts and influence on UMNO leaders in BN to disassociate and condemn – openly – racially inflammatory statements, such as Dr Mahathir’s comments that the Chinese cannot gain more political power in this country until the Malays have gained a fair share of the economy, or DPM Muhyiddin Yassin’s statement that Malays must unite for fear of losing political power in the country. The real issues that concern Malaysians today are not whether PAS will lead the country, rather, the public demands that Malaysia be sanitised of UMNO led Barisan Nasional’s racial politics and corruption once and for all. - Malaysia Chronicle

(Gooi Hsiao Leung is the Kedah PKR Deputy Youth Chief and a prominent lawyer)