Jui Meng: Soi Lek shows he is Perkasa's whipping boy in making Collin a scapegoat

It looks like MCA has made a scapegoat of Sri Desa MCA branch chairman Collin Tiew, who resigned from all party posts, over the Perkasa white 'ang-pows' fiasco.

Although MCA president Chua Soi Lek said Collin did the right thing by quitting, and also thanked Collin for "taking responsibility", critics slammed him for once again bowing to Perkasa and taking the blame for the ultra-Malay rights group, which is aligned to Prime Minister Najib Razak's party.

"It is preposterous, doesn't make sense. Do you see Ibrahim Ali resigning, he has not even apologized. Soi Lek has really become the whipping boy of Perkasa-Umno," PKR vice president Chua Jui Meng toldMalaysia Chronicle.

"What is happening now is that Soi Lek has got Collin to resign to take responsibility for the blunder made by Ibrahim Ali. And best of all, Collin even publicly said he believes Ibrahim Ali did it on purpose."

Ibrahim did it on purpose?

Collin had helped Ibrahim organize a Chinese New Year party, where the Perkasa chief handed out cash in white or funeral envelopes instead of the traditional red ones.

That had created a huge uproar in the Chinese community, and while Ibrahim later said he would not do it again, he never apologized despite a storm of demands including from BN component Gerakan.

Ibrahim also went a step further, throwing the blame back to MCA by pointing out that the Chinese leaders and reporters present at the event did not tell him it was wrong to do so.

It led to Collin calling a press conference to announce he would submit his resignation to the MCA, but at the same time, he also said that he believed Ibrahim had distributed the white envelopes deliberately.

“The article also wrote that he gave ang pow (red packets) and Mandarin orange to the people. So that’s no way he didn’t know these are Chinese customs later on January 29,” said Collin, referring to a similar CNY event on January 21 organized by Ibrahim in his Pasir Mas constituency.

Treacherous and duplicitous

The MCA's duplicity in the entire episode has disgusted the Chinese community, who were stunned when Soi Lek's son - Labis MP Tee Yong - ignored his party's hand in the event. Tee Yong rushed to condemn the CNY party, which Jui Meng had pointed out also exploited senior citizens and for no other purpose than to raise publicity for Perkasa.

Soi Lek's move to accept Collin's resignation on Friday, while stressing that Collin had at no time represented the MCA when he attended the Perkasa event, is bound to stir up fresh anger against the father-and-son duo who have been accused of treacherous behavior and duplicity.

“I thank him for taking responsibility,” said Soi Lek.

Caught in a contradiction

However, in doing so, Soi Lek also contradicted himself. At the same time as he thanked Collin, Soi Lek also said MCA would not bar members from attending future Perkasa events.

"If MCA won't bar members from attending future Perkasa events, why then is So Lek so keen to accept Collin's resignation and to thank him for taking responsibility. When you do that, you are implying Collin did something wrong," said Jui Meng.

"But if it is not wrong for him to attend a Perkasa event, why is he being made a scapegoat of? What responsibility is he taking? After all, he has already said he is not involved in the decision to use white envelopes and thinks Ibrahim Ali did it on purpose. Maybe Soi Lek has vested interests to believe Ibrahim more than Collin."

Malaysia Chronicle