Yoursay: MCA was a complicit cheerleader during Dr M’s tenure

YOURSAY | ‘It was an accessory to the cronyism, nepotism and corruption it says Dr M is guilty of.’

Dr M won’t generate Malay tsunami, says ex-MCA boss

Leonie: Former MCA president Chua Soi Lek is shooting himself in the foot again after some time spent in hibernation. He said, “No other party has taken care of the Malays.”

You're right there but this is simply because only Umno has been governing since 1957. Thus, many voters, especially the urban ones, as you yourself said, would prefer for another Malay party to do a better job.

Moreover, after the multiple Felda debacles, the rural ones are thinking hard too.

Mano: Chua further said, "But he has also inflicted a lot of harm... It was during his time that cronyism reared its ugly head, there were direct negotiations and the terms with regard to highways being drafted in a manner favourable to the concessionaires… Then, there is the judiciary (crisis). A lot of people blame him for this.”

Then why were you with him in the cabinet for so many years?

Simple Malaysian: Indeed, despite former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad doing all those harmful things as mentioned by Chua, he (Chua) stood by him in his cabinet and never once spoke out against Mahathir, even in five general elections. So what does that tell us about MCA?

Then we can expand this argument to all other BN component party leaders, both current and past: what did you do during this time?

This brings us now to include all past and present Umno leaders who today go around telling us that Mahathir is destroying the country and is a traitor to the Malays, etc.

This is all because he has caused a loss of support for Umno. I wonder how these so-called leaders will react when PM Najib Razak is shown the door and a new leader emerges from Umno, if at all it remains relevant?

Anonymous#26191220: MCA was complicit and a cheerleader during Dr M’s 22-year tenure. In fact, MCA managed to fool the Chinese to support BN during the Malay tsunami of 1999.

So the question is not about the evil Mahathir, but the impotence and abject failure of MCA over the last 60 years to influence and bring about good governance and justice.

Instead, MCA was an accessory of the very cronyism, nepotism and corruption it now accuses Mahathir of being guilty of.

Please spare us your moralising and stick to hitting below the belt, something Chua is very good at.

Mindfulb: Similarly, Chua cannot generate a Chinese tsunami. But you have one choice. Join the opposition and you may win a seat through the “all races” tsunami.

Anyway, all of you were in the cabinet during the reign of Mahathir and seemed to agree 100 percent with him. But now you’re saying he has inflicted a lot of harm. This only depicts that a number of cabinet ministers during his term were all disloyal to the Malaysian people.

We trusted you as leaders but you betrayed us. So this will continue in the future with some present cabinet ministers who will later point their fingers at the present PM.

Many leaders are greedy in taking up “responsibilities” but do not want to be held accountable or even practice “shared accountability”. They seemed to be only interested in their personal bank accounts.

Anonymous*: True that Mahathir destroyed various systems that were once deemed fair and independent. I do put the blame on him as the one who derailed institutions in favour of Umno.

Dr M may not be the angel but he is the right guy to nail the large amounts of corruption occurring since the time MACC was rebranded by former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi into a ‘sleeping body’ just as he always was.

But are we going to continue to blame him for the rest of our life or should we support him now that he is willing to fight along with Pakatan Harapan and willing to rectify his past wrongs? At 93 years of age, we should bet on him. There can't be anything that could get much worse than the present PM.

We need Mahathir for specific jobs only - to turn around the government in Harapan’s favour and to charge Najib. The running of the government can be left to an able team in Harapan.

Mahathir can then have his well-deserved retirement as de facto opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim would take over by then.

Clearwater: Mahathir shares a lot of blame for Malaysia's present predicament but he is prepared to put his legacy on the line to right some of the many wrongs laid at his doorstep. What of you, Chua?

That we have to turn to nonagenarian Mahathir to lead the opposition to overcome a detested Umno-led kleptocratic government is a damning indictment of all the BN mosquito parties, MCA being the main one. We, the people, are just fed up.

Sleepy: Is Chua saying there will not be a Malay tsunami as the majority of rural Malays do not know the difference between Mahathir and Umno? Well, that is where you are wrong.

The divide between urban and rural Malays is so much smaller now as reflected by the existence of Harapan.

Hamzah Paiman: Actually, the pull factor for rural Malays towards Harapan is Mahathir. A lot of rural Malay folks still feel so grateful towards him for his contributions.

Moreover, the Felda scandals have left them furious. That is just one of the many issues.

David Dass: This is a realistic assessment. It does not matter that it is Chua who is making it.

The opposition has to be realistic. A change of government is difficult, but denying BN its two-thirds majority is possible; perhaps more than possible.

If the objective is to change the government, then they must hammer out a joint manifesto that commits to specific reforms such as judicial independence, no Islamic state agenda, greater English language proficiency and better standards for schools and universities.

Simply cobbling together disparate parties with conflicting agendas will not get them the victory they want. Dr M has baggage. He cannot bring himself to apologise.

Okay then, he must commit himself to a reform agenda which emphasises our diversity and de-emphasises ‘ketuanan Melayu’ and ‘ketuanan Islam’.

Hank Marvin: Tsunami or not, it does not matter; what matters is the thief and his lackeys must go.- Mkini