'Blackmail' doesn't jive in an era of New Politics, Soi Lek told

MCA President Chua Soi Lek has taken pains to stress that the Chinese voters must be careful in performing what he termed as the 'Chinese Balancing Act' which is maintaining MCA's voice in a strong manner in the BN coalition while at the same time also voting in a strong Opposition.

This will guarantee the Chinese community the best of both worlds, according to Chua, as doing that will enable the Chinese to have a say in government and at the same time have a watchdog to voice its displeasure should the government step out of line pertaining to Chinese issues.

But in the 12th General Election in March 2008, Chua continued to opine, the Chinese miscalculated and have overdone it by giving too much power to the DAP, thus rendering MCA ineffective in the Cabinet.

The MCA president freely admitted this and said the imbalance needed to be corrected by the Chinese in the coming 13th General Election so that MCA can regain strength in the Cabinet.

And if they didn't and the MCA continues to perform poorly in the polls, then Chua warned the MCA will itself withdraw from the Cabinet by not accepting any positions.

Blackmail doesn't jive in an era of New Politics

But few people agreed with Chua. Many have in fact accused him of trying to "blackmail" his community.

"This is all rubbish as in the era of New Politics, the Chinese need not perform any so-called 'Balancing Act' because Pakatan Rakyat is capable of looking after Chinese interests," PAS MP for Tumpat Kamaruddin Jaffar told Malaysia Chronicle.

"Whether MCA is in government or not, it makes no difference due to MCA being incapable of making any demands, which they themselves have admitted."

MCA has had problems making headway in Chinese issues because each time they attempt to do so, they will be shouted down by UMNO leaders and told to shut up.

The latest incident was in the PSD Scholarship fiasco where Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Aziz berated Deputy Education Minister, MCA's Wee Ka Siong, for 'trying to be a Chinese hero' when he tried to champion the request for scholarships by Chinese students.

After his initial outburst, not a further squeak was heard from Wee after Nazri's public rebuke.

This shows that it is immaterial whether MCA is represented or not in the goverment, said Kamaruddin.

Gibberish

Chua has also been plugging the line that the MCA was the one and only party responsible for championing the cause of Chinese Education by highlighting the building of Chinese schools, UTAR and KTAR (Kolej Tunku Abdul Rahman).

For this, he has drawn fire from the Chinese community for speaking "gibberish".

"He needs to be reminded that providing schools is the duty of the government whereas the Chinese community paid for UTAR and KTAR and its fees are still more costly than those of public universities," MP for Gopeng Lee Boon Chye told Malaysia Chronicle.

Gauging from the slew of brickbats, Chua has not been able to prevent the slide in the MCA. The more he talks or reveals of his aspirations for the community, the more they get upset and reject his party.

Perhaps, the time has come for Chua Soi Lek to face the truth. As far as the Malaysian Chinese are concerned, his are empty words and he has become known as a "kong sam, kong sei' president or 'talk 3, talk 4' (meaning he speaks gibberish).

- Malaysia Chronicle