Rare PROUD DAY for MCA: Delegates say 'NO' to Cabinet posts, Liow censure

KUALA LUMPUR - In what is clearly a huge slap in the face for MCA president Chua Soi Lek, party delegates rejected 2 key motions on Sunday, firstly to reverse the party’s rejection of Cabinet posts and secondly to censure deputy president Liow Tiong Lai.

At an Extraordinary General Meeting that was held at the party HQ in Jalan Ampang and attended by some 2,199 delegates, a total of 4 motions had been tabled.

Liow, who has been plagued his own scandals, narrowly escaped the bid to censure him over his alleged failure as the party’s election director to guide the MCA to a better performance. In the May 5 general election, the MCA had skidded to it worst result, managing to retain only 7 out of 15 seats at the federal Parliament.

In a telling sign that the embattled Soi Lek may not command the support he claims to have, more than half the delegates or 1,190 voted against the motion to censure Liow. There were 965 who voted for the motion, while 34 chose to stay neutral.

No U-turn on Cabinet posts but state and GLC positions OK

MCA delegates also rejected the motion to overturn a previous party decision to bar members from accepting Cabinet post, should the MCA perform badly in the general election. The controversial decision not to accept Cabinet posts had been mooted by Soi Lek himself and was seen by many as a gimmick to threaten the Chinese community into voting for the MCA.

However, when Chinese voters ignored the alleged threat and supported the Opposition, Soi Lek pushed for the decision to be overturned. Many in the party who had initially objected to the 'No Cabinet Posts' decision were shocked at the U-turn, which they considered to be too blatantly unprincipled and could only further erode MCA's credibility with voters.

This morning, 1,090 voted against the resolution to U-turn while 1,080 voted for it. There were 18 spoilt votes. This means that the resolution was defeated by a mere 10-vote majority and it was decided by only 49.4% of the delegates present.

The other two motions were passed by delegates, and these will open the door for MCA members to take up positions in state governments, local authorities, and government-linked companies.

'Get Lost' message for Soi Lek?

According to MCA watchers, the message is loud and clear despite the slimness of the votes that went against the wishes of party president Soi Lek.

"This EGM was commanded by Soi Lek and he was so confident he could press through all the motions. That there has been enough objections to block him and his camp is a very strong signal the majority in MCA want him to go," an MCA watcher told Malaysia Chronicle.

"Soi Lek is now out of favor. Even with all the powers that he commands as president, he cannot convince MCA members that he deserves another chance. It is just like(previous president) Ong Tee Keat in 2010, when MCA members decided they had had enough of Ong's mercurial and temperamental politics. Now they are telling Soi Lek the same 'Get Lost'."

GLC, state government carrots

However, other observers say that Soi Lek still had a chance to fight back against Liow, seen to be his main challenger for the president's post should he renege on his previous promise to step down.

In the aftermath of the May 5 general election, Soi Lek had quickly declared he would not to seek re-election. However, it is clear he harbors ambitions to stay as is evident by the frequent trips he has made throughout the country to visit MCA divisions in a bid to get their support for himself, his son Chua Tee Yong and their clique.

"We expect Soi Lek to use the GLC positions, the state government positions as carrots to dangle to senior MCA leaders so as to curry their support when MCA holds its elections later this year. However, Liow or any other candidate can also do the same," the MCA observer said.

Ka-Siong factor

The recent announcement by outgoing MCA Youth chief Wee Ka Siong that he will not contest for any posts if Soi Lek decided to contest is seen as a factor that helped 'save' Liow.

"MCA, like Umno and Gerakan, faces a dire shortage of talent. Whether you think Ka Siong is good or just another big-mouth, he is actually quite popular with MCA grassroots and is seen as one of the remaining handful of genuine talent left in the party. Young Chinese these days only consider joining DAP or PKR. Liow also has himself to blame because he put off a lot of MCA members with his truculent nature, his ambition to be president and his 'yes-man' ways especially with the Umno leaders," the observer added.

In fairness, it was perhaps too much to blame Liow for the GE13 fiasco because, as critics have pointed out, Soi Lek's own sex scandal and annoying personality had contributed a lot to turn off voters.

Soi Lek's critics also said that if he wanted to "nail" Liow, he should have given more evidence of deliberate sabotage and that Liow had plotted the MCA's failure so that he could take over the party's topmost post. But Soi Lek apparently couldn't.

"So in this way, I think MCA delegates did themselves proud with a decision was fair. They also kept their own pride and the Chinese community's by rejecting the Cabinet posts U-turn. That would have been too much," said the observer.

The Chinese will NEVER vote BN unless there are real reforms

The response of the MCA delegates is also an eyeopener for Prime Minister Najib Razak and his Umno party, who have gone on a revenge-binge of Chinese-bashing to punish the community for rejecting the Umno-led BN coalition during the 13th general election.

Najib himself sounded the clarion call for Umno, its media and extremist groups to intimidate and provoke the Chinese community when he blamed the BN's weak electoral performance on a "Chinese tsunami".

The Umno Malacca chief minister even went so far as to close off a street in Jonker Walk so as to punish the mostly Chinese stall-holders who hold a night market there.

"I think it is clear what the Chinese voters are saying. They will never accept the BN or Umno so long as there is this deliberate racism against them. There is no reason for them to accept 2nd class status. Many are brilliant and work very hard," Opposition MP for Batu Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

"So Najib and Umno can do their worst but if even MCA - the traditional stooges for Umno - are standing their ground, what more the rest of the Chinese."

Malaysia Chronicle