It looks like MCA deputy president Liow Tiong Lai is starting to buckle to pressure from Umno and Perkasa over row about the 30 percent Bumiputera equity target. Either that or he is starting to position himself to go one up on his boss Chua Soi Lek, who has borne the brunt of the Malay onslaught so far.
In the Chinese community, Liow – the Health Minister – is often called‘fan kuat chai’ or double-crosser for his role in demanding the resignation of previous president Ong Tee Keat.
“Can a leopard change its spots? This is the problem with MCA in particular and society in general. There are too many people willing to go to all sorts of lengths just to gain power and wealth,” an MCA watcher toldMalaysia Chronicle.
Same or different
Liow raised eyebrows when he said a day ago that whatever stand the MCA took, it would be different from the DAP’s, whereas Soi Lek earlier in the week had said MCA would not fear to share DAP's views if they benefited the community..
“It is not the same with DAP. DAP is different. We are different. It is never the same. We are voicing out in the spirit of BN but not DAP," NST quoted Liow as saying on Wednesday.
Said Soi Lek in a press statement on Monday: “The new MCA leadership strongly believes that its political struggle is totally reasonable and legal. MCA will not be afraid of sharing similar views with DAP in terms of the benefit of the community nor choose to run away from making a stand.”
Indeed, the hapless Soi Lek has been left reeling from the twin attacks from Perkasa and Umno's deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin.
On Wednesday, Perkasa lodged a police report against Soi Lek. But perhaps reminded by Umno that MCA was still BN's main source of Chinese votes, the ultra-Malays rights group made sure to announce that the complaint was against the MCA president and not against the party.
“Whoever who questions Malay rights will have actions taken against that person,” Perkasa secretary-general Syed Hassan Syed Ali was reported as saying.
The brouhaha began last Saturday after Soi Lek proposed at an economic congress attended by both Prime Minister Najib Razak and his brother Nazir a gradual reduction of the 30 per cent Bumiputera quota to foster greater competition and resilience in the economy.
“MCA recognizes the noble objective of the NEP which was to eradicate poverty regardless of ethnic background. However, in echoing the words of CIMB Group CEO Datuk Nazir Razak where he said that the NEP’s ‘implementation has been hijacked by self-interest groups’, these weaknesses have to be rectified,” another MCA leader, Chor Chee Heung, had defended.
But while Soi Lek and MCA may have got their facts rights, they chose the wrong tack to regain Chinese popularity. Not only did it create a media circus with starring roles played by Umno and Perkasa, it failed to really excite the Chinese who viewed the ensuing crossfire with a mixture of cynicism and amusement.
Pundits say that after 53 years of failed nation-building by the BN, the Chinese community has decided that the two greatest evils in their country were now racism and corruption.
“This is why Soi Lek has failed to ignite support whether from the ordinary Chinese people or the business groups. Just go to any coffee shop and ask around, the first response is sandiwara. Then the more serious reply – you cannot fight racism with racism,” the MCA watcher said.
“So it looks like Soi Lek has failed and because of this he may be on the way down in MCA. If he wants to stay in charge, he has to pull the party out from BN, but for that to happen, then a leopard would really have to change its spots. May be that’s why Liow has already started sniffing around.”
The latest Merdeka opinion poll released earlier this week also showed only 9 percent of the Chinese electorate liked of supported Soi Lek.
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