Is Soi Lek for real - Umno doesn't believe in Malay supremacy

His words negated the Chinese fight for equality

Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

MCA president Chua Soi Lek has fallen deeper into a hole of his own making. It now looks like the final curtain will really fall on his party, which has been struggling with little success to regain the confidence of the Chinese community.

In his haste to curry favor with Umno, Soi Lek may have destroyed the last vestiges of self-respect that the community may still feel for the MCA.

Instead of insisting on change for the plural and equal society that the ethnic Chinese have craved and long fought for, the 63-year old Soi Lek stunned the nation on Tuesday when he insisted that Umno leaders had never sought Ketuanan Melayu or Malay supremacy.

Destroying Malaysia

Unsurprisingly, he drew a storm of flak – not just from Chinese leaders but also from prominent Malays, disgusted and alarmed at the growing racism and religious bigotry in the country despite 53 years of nation-building.

Nizar

“This is utter denial syndrome from Chua Soi Lek. Not only will it make the non-Malays despise him and MCA more, it will increase the contempt the Malays already feel for him. He makes the MCA appear to be running dogs - and for this, he should be sacked,” Bukit Gantang MP Nizar Jamaluddin told Malaysia Chronicle.

“Let me as a Malay correct this lie put forward by Soi Lek. Let me tell all my fellow Malaysians - Umno not only preaches Malay supremacy, they live and die for it. Not for patriotism or nationalism but because this is the only way for the Umno elite to cling to power, to keep enriching themselves. But by helping Umno to perpetuate this smoke screen, Soi Lek is an accessory to the grand larceny taking place. He is not helping Malaysia, he is helping to destroy her.”

Between Kuan Yew and Soi Lek

The MCA leader had flown to the defense of Umno, who had been accused by Singapore’s Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, of practicing race-based policies that kept the country and its people backwards.

Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew

This is not the first time that Kuan Yew has accused Umno of such bigotry. In fact, he has crossed swords many times with various Umno leaders especially with former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.

“Malaysians saw it as a Malay country, all others are lodgers, “orang tumpangan”, and they the Bumiputras, sons of the soil, run the show. So the Sultans, the Chief Justice and judges, generals, police commissioner, the whole hierarchy is Malay," Kuan Yew had said in an interview earlier this month..

"All the big contracts for Malays. Malay is the language of the schools although it does not get them into modern knowledge. So the Chinese build and find their own independent schools to teach Chinese, the Tamils create their own Tamil schools, which do not get them jobs. It’s a most unhappy situation."

But when asked to respond to Kuan Yew’s comments, Soi Lek came out with his by-now classic reply.

Tee Yong - took over his dad's Labis seat

“In my association or the MCA’s association with Umno, I have never heard of any Umno leader who says that the Malays are more superior than the non-Malays. No,” he told reporters.

Personal interests

Since winning the MCA presidency earlier this year on a wave of sympathy votes after he was forced to quit the government following a sex scandal, Soi Lek has fallen into one scrape after another.

Not only did he incur disdain when he snatched a deputy minister’s post for his son, Chua Tee Yong, his hand-picked secretary-general Kong Cho Ha immediately ended a high-profile investigation into the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone financial debacle initiated by his predecessor Ong Tee Keat.

Kor Ming - ask Dr M first

Speculation is now rife within MCA circles that he is angling for Umno support in next year’s party elections although he has promised he will only be president for one year.

“If Umno does not practice Malay supremacy, then Chua Soi Lek must be living in another country. He should also ask Dr Mahathir Mohamad if it is true there is no such thing as Malay supremacy and that according to Umno all the races are equal in this country,” Taiping MP Nga Kor Ming told Malaysia Chronicle.

"He should ask Dr Mahathir and Prime Minister Najib to openly declare this stand, then only make such a false statement. Otherwise, he is just lying to the people, not just the Chinese but all the Malaysians. This is his own low standard and by reflection MCA’s low standard.”