MCA - slapped, kicked, spat at - needs new paradigm

By Stanley Koh

COMMENT Will MCA be brainstorming towards a paradigm shift that will give its leadership a direction that is more down to earth? Is it even prepared to re-define its traditional relationship with Umno to appease the Chinese community and thus give it at least a measure of hope for political survival?
These questions come amid a growing awareness from within the party that the loss of Chinese political support is just one of the ingredients in the recipe for disaster.

We have heard calls for a cessation of the blame game so that the job of strengthening the party can proceed without distraction. Besides this, however, some veteran leaders who are still influential may be pushing for an internal leadership transformation to ensure that MCA function as a true partner of Umno instead of being its errant boy or, worse, its stooge.

But the obvious question is whether president Dr Chua Soi Lek, with his tainted past and political baggage, can pull this off.

The painful fact is that MCA is held in such low esteem that even a small fry from Umno can shout at its leaders, blaming them for the loss of Chinese votes during the recent Hulu Selangor by-election.

Ahmad Tajuddin Sulaiman of Paya Besar Umno division berated MCA for making “silly excuses” and said, “MCA should leave BN.”

This spoke volumes about MCA’s face value that even a near-nobody in Umno can spit on the party and get away with it.

It is because of this loss of dignity and integrity that the Chinese community is shunning the party. One cannot blame any Chinese Malaysian for being ashamed of being associated with a party seen as a wimp.

Former US President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), speaking of political parties in their twilight years, said:

“The old parties are husks, with no real soul within either, divided on artificial lines, boss-ridden and privilege-controlled, each a jumble of incongruous elements, and neither daring to speak out wisely and fearlessly on what should be said on the vital issues of the day.”

This, in essence, is the theme that on which MCA should meditate.

No longer an equal partner
The old MCA, even in its various incarnations, stood as an approximate equal to the old Umno in their fight to build a nation. Both had extraordinary individuals as leaders. But that is all history. Those extraordinary men are dead and gone. The Umno of today has scant respect for the MCA of today, and chooses to forget the triumph of reason that characterised the historical partnership of the two.

Neither is there anymore even a ring of truth to the notion that this country was founded upon the principles of liberty and justice and that its leaders would ever seek the welfare and happiness of the people.

And so MCA must wake up from its daydreams about things past and put down the sentimental romance it has been reading. The glaring truth is that it is no longer an equal partner to Umno.

History is saturated with news reports and other documents that show how the party has been shouted down, bullied and insulted.

Indeed, MCA is running out of excuses and grandfather stories as it tries to keep on justifying its attachment to BN. It is questionable whether it is capable even of defending its own constitution, which calls for the upholding of human rights and the defence of the legitimate political, economic, educational and cultural rights of the Chinese community in Malaysia.

Politically, the Chinese today are divided, with their loyalties dispersed among the many Chinese-based parties of different ideologies. Economically, they have virtually lost all strategic sectors, keeping only a basket of SMEs and traditional businesses.

In the 80s and 90s, the Chinese community even had to seek permits for lion dances and other traditional cultural performances. MCA has had to beg for licences to set up private colleges and universities and even to establish funds for the development of private Chinese schools.

The party has had no impact within the BN that would make the ruling coalition listen to calls for the repeal of draconian laws like the ISA. It has historically supported all these legislations in parliament, becoming an indirect party to all the resultant power abuses and the hardships Malaysians have had to suffer.

Yes, history is the witness and in the archives is the evidence.

“As long as MCA is willing to be in the jaws of Umno, it is an impotent party incapable of any breakthrough impacting real progress, no matter how many hundreds of brainstorming sessions it intends to hold,” said a former MCA veteran leader from Selangor who has since defected to an opposition party.

“For decades, MCA leaders have personally received benefits from powerful and influential political masters at federal and state levels. It is difficult to envisage the discontinuation of this trend.”

The myths of MCA’s purpose in BN today must be challenged by truth and its true role uncovered with honesty. Is it an equal BN partner or just an errant boy, stooge or, at times, a parasite capable of delivering the race-based votes to a regime not much different from the British of colonial days with their divide-and-rule governance?

It is undeniable that MCA’s power sharing in the BN has been on the decline for the past 30 years, particularly during the Mahathirization period, when it was virtually destroyed.

Since then, BN’s stand on any issue has actually been Umno’s, and all MCA has been able to do is nod in agreement. That, indeed, is what MCA’s so-called stand has been all about. There has been no BN secretariat to handle daily matters; it  comes alive only during election time.

The term “equal partner” is a weighty one and needs critical examination.

Advisable to feign folly

Has MCA ever been successful in stemming Umno’s arrogance as reflected in Hishammuddin Hussein’s raising of the keris and insulting remarks from the likes of Khairy Jamaluddin, Ibrahim Ali, Nazri Aziz, Badruddin Amiruldin, Bung Mukhtar, et al?

Did MCA play any effective partnership role in stemming Umno’s power abuses and other excesses? If not, what then is the meaning of “equal” partnership?

What about issues of freedom of religion, public feelings of injustice as in the Teoh Beng Hock case and many more human rights abuses—issues dear to the hearts of ordinary Malaysians?

MCA must not kid itself and the rest of Malaysia. Its diehard justification—to check and balance from within—gets more hollow by the day.

If MCA has indeed played its role effectively, how is it that our nation is in such a rotten state of affairs?

While debate within MCA about its political survival remains fierce, the majority of Chinese Malaysians feel they do not need rocket science to explain why the party leadership no longer deserves their support.

Nevertheless, the question of whether MCA should leave BN is on the prowl again.

Should any of us rejoice and perhaps thank the Paya Besar small fry for his arrogant remark?

Probably not. We have to remember the great 15th century thinker Nicolo Machiavelli, who argued that politics very often revolve around power and self-interest.

Politics, he said, is without morality.

“For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are often even more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are,” Machiavelli said.

He continued: “It is advisable than at times to feign folly, as Brutus did; and this is sufficiently done by praising, speaking, seeing, and doing things contrary to your way of thinking, and merely to please the prince.”

It is a foregone conclusion that MCA under Soi Lek’s leadership will not abandon the BN coalition.

Never mind the changing political landscape. MCA’s destiny can no longer be equated to the destiny of the Chinese community. MCA is no longer synonymous with the ethnic Chinese community and the entire Chinese community is not MCA.

But the MCA certainly is a part, a very vital part, of the Chinese community because its destiny is in their hands, as far as the present political setting is concerned.

What else is left but an elusive dream?

MCA has in the past promised that it would play its role as a strong partner in BN if the Chinese community would politically unite under its banner.

Time has passed and the dream has turned out to be a nightmare. Will a two-coalition system solve the Chinese dilemma?

Time will tell, but as of now, more and more Chinese in Malaysia are realising that the pervading evil of Malaysian democracy is the tyranny of a party that succeeds by force or fraud in elections.

And MCA has, without surprising anyone, stood silently in support.