As he prepares his party for the coming election, one of Chua’s biggest tasks is to show that it is not a mere wimp in BN, and he is getting some help from Najib
Some say that a bird sings not because it has an answer, but because it has a song. Similarly, MCA’s 58th annual general assembly did not provide answers to the question of how its leadership might meet the difficult challenges it is facing, but it gave an opportunity for the flexing of vocal cords.
Only 76 percent of the 2,361 national delegates attended the assembly, but they were entertained with what we might call war songs – verbal bashing of the Pakatan Rakyat opposition bloc, in particular DAP and PAS. Perhaps the aim was to whip up a frenzy of hatred so strong that it would make the membership forget the weaknesses of the leadership.
An observer quipped: “A butterfly beating its wings in Kelantan started a hurricane in BN and Putrajaya.” The reference was to the recent resurrection of the hudud issue.
Anyhow, party president Dr Chua Soi Lek seemed determined to put his nimble tongue to good use to get MCA into electable shape.
To achieve that, one of his most urgent tasks is to rid MCA of its image as Umno’s wimp. Observers cannot fail to notice that he has lately been trying to show himself off as the macho man in BN. One of the latest manifestations of this was his threat to pull his party out of the coalition if Umno even considered imposing the hudud provisions of Islamic law.
The touch of machismo was not missing in his keynote address at the assembly. “Mr Prime Minister,” he said in a tone made to sound like a tough challenge to Najib Tun Razak, “I urge you to take one giant step forward and offer all Malaysians a new deal for the future, a new deal that epitomises the very core expectations and aspirations of the people at large.”
In reality, that supposed challenge was a mere expansion on Najib’s own recent statements about BN’s alleged commitment to turn Malaysia into a true democracy.
Indeed, Chua did not forget to record his gratitude to the prime minister for his promises of financial allocations and approvals for community and educational projects for the Chinese.
“I would like to record my sincere thanks to the prime minister on his decision to offer scholarships to all students with eights As in their SPM examination, regardless of their ethnicity.
“I would also like to record our appreciation to 1Malaysia Development Bhd for awarding scholarships to the top 50 Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) holders pursuing higher education.”
And then he called on the government to admit UEC graduates into public universities and upgrade Tunku Abdul Rahman College to the status of a university college.
More hay for the horse
To stand any chance of improving its performance in the coming election or at least surviving it, MCA must depend on some kind of magic, and one of the rabbits from the hat is the education of Chinese youth, for education is an obsession with the community.
And no one knows MCA better than does its political master, Umno. The prime minister may not be aware of the Chinese saying, “ye yao ma er hao, ye yao ma er bu chi cao”, but he probably knows that if he wants the horse to be good, he must give it more than hay.
With both eyes on the Chinese vote and the return of a two-thirds BN majority in Parliament, Najib has shown a willingness to be generous to MCA.
It is likely that MCA will be allowed to keep its quota of 40 parliamentary seats and 90 state seats to contest in the coming election. In 2008, the party won only 15 of those parliamentary seats and 31 of the state seats.
In promising the approvals and financial allocations, especially for Chinese education, Najib must have hoped to silence the rumblings within the MCA leadership and thereby motivate the second largest BN party to heal the splits within it and take a quicker pace in preparing for the next election.
But Chua is too shrewd a politician to make the boast that MCA is fully united.
“Factions remain at some divisional levels,” he said in his address. “We have to put our differences aside and confront our enemies as one team. We should all be big-hearted and compassionate. The best gift to your enemy is forgiveness, and to your opponent, tolerance. If we practise these values, the MCA will be stronger with each passing day.”
Yet, he has a strange way of forgiving his nemesis, Ong Tee Keat. He wants to drop Ong as a possible candidate for Pandan, the only parliamentary seat in Selangor that MCA won in the last election. According to gossip whispered during the general assembly, he also wants to drop Ong Ka Chuan as candidate for the Tanjong Malim parliamentary seat.
Perhaps for the first time in the history of MCA’s annual general assemblies, no past presidents attended last weekend’s event. Lee San Choon, Tan Koon Swan, Dr Ling Liong Sik, Ong Ka Ting and Ong Tee Keat were all absent. Was this a sign that MCA leaders excel at the character destruction of their opponents?
If so, we can accuse Chua of making a hollow statement when he said: “MCA’s opponents are not our own comrades, but Pakatan Rakyat. We must stay focused on our objectives.”
He pledged to turn Pakatan Rakyat’s determination to march to Putrajaya into a mere dream.
Jury still out on Najib
That confidence is shared by his deputy, Liow Tiong Lai, who praised Najib’s opening address at the general assembly. “The prime minister’s speech is very comprehensive, not just motivating the party, but he is very committed to transforming the nation,” he said. “We believe he can deliver.”
A few delegates also had that confidence, describing Najib as a better prime minister than his predecessor.
Yet, some delegates had reservations. “We have to wait and see,” said a delegate from Selangor.
“Our division has to watch for later developments.” That was an oblique reference to the broken promises of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the previous prime minister.
Asked if many delegates shared his reservation, the reply was: “You can judge from the enthusiasm of the delegates. Only about 200 to 300 delegates (out of 1,807) came back to the hall after lunch. The rest all left early.”
Stanley Koh is a former head of MCA’s research unit. He is a FMT columnist.
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