Exposed! Soi Lek's own lack of understanding of democracy

Soi Lek - all kinds of democracy!

Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

If MCA members are confused about what democracy means, it is not surprising given that their president Chua Soi Lek is himself in a muddle over what the ideal actually stands for.

Chua had turned the spotlight on himself when he accused PKR of not reflecting the “real process of democracy”, yet in the next breath, he exhorted Malaysians to follow the lead of China in practicing “controlled democracy”.

Chua, notorious after a video of him having sex with his mistress was shown all over cyberspace, drew greater ridicule when he called for greater Internet regulation - insisting that freedom and democracy did not guarantee prosperity.

“Chua doesn’t seem to know what he is talking about at all. He is just hitting out blindly – following Umno’s lead in attacking PKR, but the twisted logic behind his statement only reflects the weakness of his intellect and the lack of independent thinking,” PKR vice president Dr Lee Boon Chye told Malaysia Chronicle.

“What I find most shocking is his praise for the Chinese regime and his call for greater restriction on freedom of speech. I don’t understand how he can say such things and at the same time criticize PKR of not practicing democracy because of low voter turnout.”

Allowed personal ambition to outweigh party's future

On Monday, Chua had accused PKR of weak management because according to him, only 9 percent of party members had turned up to vote during the party’s historic direct elections.

PKR leaders pointed out even that if Chua’s figure was correct, it meant a total of 32,000 people had voted as the party has a total membership of some 400,000-odd. However, in the MCA which claims to have a membership of a million, only 2,400-odd delegates vote each time for the top MCA leadership.

Not only has such a practice been condemned as "undemocratic", MCA's top leadership has been accused of intentionally perpetuating such a system because it was easily to manipulate - allowing money politics to keep the elite in power.

Furthermore, despite Chua’s reckless words, MCA is not out of the woods yet. Not only is it still shunned by the Chinese electorate for its subservience towards Umno, Chua’s own power tussle with his predecessor Ong Tee Keat had ripped the party in two last year.

Two extraordinary general meetings were convened within months of each other drawing ridicule from the Malaysian public. Even top Umno leaders including Prime Minister Najib Razak, his predecessors Abdullah Badawi and Mahathir Mohamathir had pleaded for Chua and Ong to put aside their personal ego and ambitions for the sake of MCA’s future.

Nonetheless, it looks like Chua has a shorter memory than most.

"It is is not reflective of the real process of democracy. Although the Internet has allowed for more freedom of speech, we still need regulations. We need to have restrictions and a good financial infrastructure for economic development," Star reported him as saying.