Soi Lek casts doubts on Pakatan, but the Chinese are no longer listening

Under attack for weak leadership and false promises, MCA president Chua Soi Lek has tried to up the ante by casting doubt on the Pakatan Rakyat leadership but his words fell on deaf ears, ominously marking a new decline in the MCA's attempt to stay on the radar of the Chinese electorate.

"You can ask around. But it is very clear if you speak to the man on the street that none of them are listening to him, not like in the past if an MCA president says something, there will surely be some interest in the Chinese media at least," Gopeng MP Lee Boon Chye told Malaysia Chronicle.

"But now, even if the mainstream media prints his news, readers will just look at the headlines and scold him, not read what he has to say."

Separating the men from the boys

When Soi Lek wrested the MCA presidency from Ong Tee Keat in 2010, for better or worse, the Chinese community held hopes the MCA could finally put its troubles behind and start moving forward.

Soi Lek, during the time when he was left out in the cold by Ong, had expressed many promising leads. Consequently, expectations were high that at last MCA had found a chief that had the courage to speak up.

However, though Soi Lek has spoken up many times on several 'hot' issues including the 30 per cent Malay and Bumiputera quota, each time that he did so, BN boss Umno hit back at him hard.

And each time, Soi Lek retreated. Each time, he caved in to the Umno pressure.

The embarrassing and public way that Soi Lek was forced to learn the adage that 'talk is cheap' eroded his political standing. And sad to say, the MCA's as well.

More than anything else including his personal sex DVD, it has been Soi Lek's inability to find the chink in Umno's armour and win their community more economic and educational rights that has disappointed the Chinese electorate.

Many now regard him as a seller of fake medicines and hocus-pocus cures that will never work.

Who's lacking direction

The thrashing dealt out by the DAP to the SUPP in last month's Sarawak state election was convincing proof the Chinese community had made its up mind. In the peninsula, Soi Lek's MCA is now awaiting a similar faith when the 13th General Election is called, most likely before the year-end.

Unsurprisingly, Soi Lek tried again to knock down DAP and Pakatan. He accused DAP of being a lone ranger and Pakatan of lacking leadership.

"At least with Barisan, we know Najib is leading the country. But in Pakatan, we do not know who is the likely candidate to become Prime Minister. Is it Lim Guan Eng, Abdul Hadi Awang, Nik Aziz Nik Mat, Anwar Ibrahim or Azmin Ali?" MCA-owned Star reported him as saying.

But both DAP and PAS have pledged support for Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim to become Prime Minister if Pakatan wins control of the federal government in GE-13.

Just last week, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng again affirmed his party's support for the Opposition Leader.

“You can take it from me. Read my lips. It is also from everyone in Pakatan Rakya. That, I can announce, I can state this. Anything else, I cannot," Guan Eng told the press.

His sentiments were echoed by Johor DAP chief Boo Cheng Hau.

"Creating a doubt in the minds of the public on who is the Pakatan leader is a desperate move by Chua. He is already bogged down by his own scandal and because MCA lacks direction, he has to resort to this move to frighten the Chinese," Boo, who is also the Skudai assemblyman, told Malaysia Chronicle.

"I would advise Chua to speak less and work more. Don't waste the people's time with frivolous issues."

- Malaysia Chronicle