MCA leaders rails at Nazri over scholarships, but letting them down will be Soi Lek

Stung by accusations they were trying to portray themselves as false heroes to the Chinese community, MCA leaders unleashed a barrage of statements crucifying Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Nazri Aziz, over the awarding of scholarships to top scorers.

Among those who issued strongly-worded statements that expressed their dislike of Nazri were Wanita sec-gen Senator Chew Lee Giok, deputy publicity chairman Loh Seng Kok and Youth vice-chairman Yoo Wei How.

"I am aghast at recent remarks made by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Aziz’s against MCA on the award of Public Service Scholarship scholarships. As a member of the ruling coalition, Nazri’s comments reek of bad faith and once again prove that he is still living in the outmoded thinking of superiority," said Loh, who also repeated his party's call to Nazri to join the opposition.

"There is without an iota of doubt that MCA and UMNO will have difficulty in working with Nazri, since DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng had praised him of supporting the Opposition’s calls and that his way of thinking is not suited to that of Barisan Nasional’s, therefore he might as well join the Opposition instead if he constantly finds fault with others."

Closing shop

Brave words from the MCA, but Nazri was not the only BN leader to have suspected its Youth Chief Wee Ka Siong of trying to grandstand at the expense of the BN coalition.

In his trademark meek fashion, Gerakan president Koh Tsu Koon had also urged "everybody" not to be "heroes" in racial issues. He did not name Wee but he had been asked for his comments on the PSD scholarships which were at the centre of the Nazri-Wee spat.

"To be a hero is normal, but not in matters like this where we have to be calm and patient, to communicate and hold dialogues instead of attacking through the media because the matter will not just end there," Bernama reported Koh as saying.

As for Nazri, the Umno minister had just a month ago insulted MCA by calling the party an "abused wife" who did not have the courage to leave her spouse despite constant punishment. Last week, he again attacked MCA and Wee in particular for trying to be heroes to the Chinese community instead of discussing the matter internally or within the Cabinet. Wee is also the deputy Education minister.

Upon release of the annual scholarships list last week, Wee had slammed Public Service Department officials for discriminating against top scorers because of race even though these students had qualified for the grants based on results.

Wee also revealed that 363 straight A+ students failed to secure the scholarships this year although Prime Minister Najib Razak had agreed that all students scoring 8A+ and above will receive PSD scholarships after a similar brouhaha last year.

“If this trend continues, many Barisan Nasional parties will have to close shop because such a practice will only scare away young voters. Many talented young people will also be driven away and this will make the brain drain problem even worse,” were the remarks that Wee had made that riled Nazri and Koh.

Gallant efforts but futile

Nazri belongs to Umno and Koh to Gerakan. Pundits said Nazri was himself trying to be a hero to the Malay community.

As for Koh, they said he was taking a swipe at MCA and trying to pull the party down a peg or two because he did not dare challenge Umno, the powerful coalition boss on whom he and Gerakan rely on for their Cabinet posts.

Meanwhile, Senator Chew challenged Nazri to come up with something concrete rather than just attacking Wee for the sake of sounding good in the newspapers.

"I want to ask our Ministers, as well as the Deputy Minister of Education cum MCA Education Bureau chief Wee Ka Siong – “Do the students deserve vindication and scholarships for performing exceptionally well in SPM?” These are Ka Siong’s duties and responsibilities. In the face of these complaints, did he hide in the room and not speak out?" said Chew.

"I would also like to ask Nazri Aziz: “In addition to your criticisms against Wee Ka Siong, what contributions have you done to resolve this outstanding issue faced by the PSD scholarship applicants?”

As for Wee's No.2, Yoo Wei How, he diversified his attack to include opposition party DAP and its sec-gen Lim Guan Eng.

"Guan Eng’s praise for Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Dato’ Seri Nazri Aziz in condemning us on the PSD scholarship makes it appear that they have suddenly become the best of friends as they both level their guns on MCA Youth’s National Chairman Datuk Dr Ir Wee Ka Siong," said the MCA Youth vice chairman.

"What is even more surprising is that Guan Eng has denounced the actions of the civil servants by calling them as heroes, but we ourselves are not allowed to criticize the civil servants."

Bully-beef Nazri, vulture-watch Tsu Koon and abused-wife Soi Lek

But gallant though the efforts of the MCA leaders were, especially in realising that their party has to change or be wiped out at the next general election, all their efforts may come to nought.

When Nazri gave an interview in the Chinese newpapers and deliberately called MCA an "abused wife", the same reaction had occured. MCA leaders denounced Nazri and rained torrents of protests against him.

When Pakatan Rakyat leaders ridiculed MCA president Chua Soi Lek's suggestion that his party members would stay out of the Cabinet if they did poorly in the coming GE, again the press statements in defense of Chua flowed fast and furious.

But in the end, letting down the MCA was Soi Lek himself.

In the "abused wife" episode, after much trading of verbal blows, Chua retreated. His palliative to his party members and the Chinese community was that Nazri was only speaking in his "personal" capacity and not as an Umno leader. Therefore, the slight could be ignored.

In the no-Cabinet-positions episode, quick to prevent any fallout with Umno, Chua declared that MCA would stay and fight within the Umno-led BN through thick and thin.

According to pundits, that is how Soi Lek lost the MCA's bargaining power - by making the party too cheap.

Not only is bully-beef Nazri now aiming kicks directly at the MCA's face, timid Tsu Koon is also on vulture-watch to score brownie points and boost his own party's standing with big brother Umno. - Malaysia Chronicle