An AGM of opposition bashing

MCA chief Dr Chua Soi Lek said the party has no time for discussions on policies because the general election was around the corner. So MCA's AGM was all about bombarding their rivals.

ANALYSIS

KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition bashing and pre-election chest thumping took center stage at the two-day MCA Annual General Assembly (AGM) which concluded yesterday evening.

As party chief Dr Chua Soi Lek put it, MCA had no time for policy discussions at the AGM but opted to switch into battle mode to regain its dwindling Chinese support.

“While an AGM is always a platform for laying out policies, we feel that this is not the time to talk about policies because the general election is only two to three months away.

“So the important thing is about party unity and winning the election,” he told reporters.

The AGM saw MCA leaders and delegates lashing out at Pakatan Rakyat’s policies, attacking PAS’ hudud stance and criticising DAP for compromising its stand with regard to PAS.

Delegates also came dressed in Barisan Nasional t-shirts, bearing anti-Pakatan slogans.

Hence, Chua, together with his deputy chief Liow Tiong Lai, Youth chief Wee Ka Siong and Wanita chief Yu Chok Tow launched a broadside against PAS and its hudud aspirations should the Islamic party come into power.

The attack was however akin to new wine in an old bottle, as many statements made in the AGM such as hudud would affect the non-Muslims, cinemas and lottery outlets would be closed and countries that adopt hudud were the most corrupted were mentioned numerouus times before.

MCA Wanita vice chief Heng Seai Kie, however, added a fresh twist with her interpretation of a statement by PAS spiritual leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat made four years ago.

Nik Aziz had said that women who did not cover their modesty (tutup aurat) deserved to be raped, but Heng however told delegates that it would also mean that non-Muslim women should be raped.

“(Nik Aziz) was instigating the Muslims to rape the non-Muslims,” she had said.

Do or die battle

On economic issues, MCA leaders heaped praises on the Government Transformation Programmes by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, labeling it as the only roadmap that would ensure the country achieved its high-income nation ambition.

Chua even mentioned in his presidential speech that the rakyat should not “change the farmers when the seed of transformation had been planted by Najib.”

The MCA president had warned that the nation would descend into chaos should the inexperience Pakatan take over federal leadership.

Meanwhile, MCA leaders also used the last AGM before the next polls to urge party members to close ranks to ensure a victory for BN.

Apart from announcing the decision to sack party saboteurs, Chua also called on members to be confident of MCA.

Kedah delegate Lee Yen Wang said that he did not dare wear his party uniform outside after the 2008 GE.

“But today I am no longer afraid, I would wear not just to promote MCA but to attack (the opposition),” he said.

So amid the loud chants of “Hidup BN” and “Hidup MCA”, Chua beat the war drum and got his troops ready for the crucial election that must be held by April 2012.

The next general election would be a “do-or-die” battle, said the president.

But would the largely anti-establishment Chinese community buy his hudud scare?