Lim Guan Eng’s bullyboy tactics using TAR-UC

"They try to make themselves the victims when they are actually the culprits.”

– Lim Guan Eng

Some of you may find the above quote funny, coming from a DAP politician. Playing the victim card and then deflecting had been an effective strategy for the DAP when they were in the “opposition” - until they become the establishment.

I have no idea why the Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (TAR UC) needs to be an “independent education institution” before it gets government funding. The DAP – and let us be clear, this is a DAP/MCA squabble – has not made it clear how MCA, owning TAR UC, is detrimental in any way or, how TAR UC, as an independent institution, would better serve the Malaysian community. For instance, is the MCA using TAR UC as a propaganda organ?

The MCA/DAP TAR UC squabble is politics at its pettiest, and for non-Malay political discourse, extremely chilling. When the finance minister says this, "Your time is up, your time is over. Let it be run as an educational institution," it is unnerving at the viciousness and, yes, BN-style rhetoric coming from a politician of this so-called 'New Malaysia'. It would seem that the DAP wants to destroy the legacy of the MCA as a means to form a new narrative about "Chinese" education in Malaysia.

It also demonstrates that non-Malay politicians are still cannibalising each other to the detriment of their communities, while their Malay counterparts do everything in their power to secure the best deal for their community. Welcome to Neo Malaysia, where everything old is new again.

“Your time is up, your time is over” is the kind of nonsense that will be the downfall of the DAP. This winner takes all nonsense in a political landscape where Malay power structures are battling each other for every slice of the pie is problematic, to say the least. The Malaysians who voted for change have to be content with watching the same old games being played by politicians who mendaciously tell us that such games are over.

For Malay political power structures, it is axiomatic that they would take over the reins of the politically-connected entities of the vanquished. This is how things work in the mainstream politics of Malaysia.

Now the DAP is telling us that it still wants to destroy the MCA, and collateral damage be damned, even though it claims that the MCA is "finished".

No, Mr Finance Minister, the same – lacking empathy for poor Chinese students – cannot be applied to the MCA, because the DAP is part of the federal government, controls the purse strings and is in a position of power. Claiming that the same could be applied to the MCA is hogwash. Lim Guan Eng is withholding government funds and using the excuse of not using taxpayers money for politically-owned organisations as a fig leaf.

While an education establishment, like UITM – a bumiputera only one – gets all the funding it needs, TAR UC has to contend with the political machinations of the DAP using “government funding“ as window dressing to carry on a petty political dispute with an adversary it claims has no power or influence in the Chinese community.

What is the finance minster's take on funding bumiputera-only institutions or any of the myriad other organisations that benefit political parties of Harapan, but which do not have direct links with political parties in Harapan? The running dog and attack dog narrative of Malay power structures is writ large in the actions of the DAP.

Do the people have any objections to taxpayers' money going to TAR UC? Does anyone object that TAR UC, an education institution which by all accounts is doing good work for the community, is aided by federal funds, even though it is owned by an opposition party?

Think of it this way. Supposing the DAP created an education establishment and this was a great service to the non-Malay community, specifically the Chinese community, and they lost the election, and the new government decided to withhold funds? Would this be something that the DAP could live with? Or would they be up in arms claiming the government lacks empathy for the Chinese poor?

Last year, during the tabling of the 2019 budget where Lim's ministry cut funding for TAR UC, he warned the MCA not to increase fees because they did not do it when the funding was decreased during Umno's time - “When we cut RM24.5 million, why is MCA talking about increasing tuition fees? Why is it when BN cut more, you (MCA) never increased (tuition fees), but when we cut less, you talk about increase?

“This is an act of political vengeance. So, we want to remind MCA not to play this kind of game by sacrificing the students or else we will take action to protect the interest and rights of the students.”

For years the DAP labelled the MCA as eunuchs for Umno. The propaganda was they could not do anything for the Chinese community, and they could not do anything when Umno cut off funding for TAR UC, even though poor Chinese students were “punished”.

Now, it seems for political reasons – the destruction of the MCA – the DAP wants to assume the role of Umno in cutting funding for TAR UC, and they ask why MCA is objecting. I guess the DAP wants the MCA to be eunuchs for them too.

This is vindictive politics. Besides, what business is it of Finance Minister Lim if fees are increased because of a lack of federal funding? This is Trump-like behaviour. Starting a fight, then promising more trouble when the opponent reacts.

When Lim asks the MCA to relinquish control of the educational institute they founded, how does this control translate to political interference? What exactly does the MCA do with TAR UC that is mala fide to the students?

Last year, Lim asked, "Otherwise, if DAP sets up a school today, Umno the following day, and thereafter PAS, Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu)... do we give to everyone?“

This is mendacious. Bersatu does not have to set up any school. They have inherited everything from Umno. Now they have to ensure that these “Malay” institutions and other legacies are well funded and continue enabling institutions which they believe will get them the votes.

Amanah, meanwhile, has its hands, courtesy of Harapan's religious czar Mujahid Yusof Rawa (above), on the vast religious bureaucracy, another institution of political and social power.

The DAP, as part of federal power, dares not trespass into any of these domains. The DAP, as part of state and federal governments, happily funds Islamic organisations and other proxies of Malay power, but displays bully tactics against its own community’s interest through its vicious, vindictive fight with the MCA.

My advice the DAP: at a time when the far-right and the deep Islamic state is throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the non-Malays, stop using institutions like TAR UC – institutions of non-Malay economic and social progress (which do not discriminate against the Malays) – for political gain. You have won.

The only injured party in this squabble are the students of TAR UC. Who controls this educational institute is not important. What is important is that it remains a symbol, more importantly, an avenue for non-Malays who have enough hurdles, funded by the government, thrown their way.

I am sure the plutocrat class will fund TAR UC, despite what the federal government does, which at least points to the pragmatism of the business elite.

The DAP’s lack of magnanimity, forward-thinking and imagination will slowly devour its base.

I wonder how it would be when the DAP’s time is up and over?

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S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. A retired barrister-at-law, he is one of the founding members of Persatuan Patriot Kebangsaan. - Mkini