Save the party

My SinChew

Finally, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak can no longer tolerate the endless MCA crisis and started to step in. It may bring both positive and negative effects to MCA. It can help to resolve the crisis as soon as possible but the bad thing is, it may once again reduce the dignity of MCA, which is self-inflected by MCA leaders.

MCA President Ong Tee Keat 's another “exclusion move” is the key reason that causes Najib to step in. Since the Greater Unity Plan (GUP) is ineffective, they can only hold a fresh polls in order to recover the dignity, democracy and credibility of MCA. And whether MCA will be able to revive after Najib has stepped in, it will all depend on the grassroots. Only the one million MCA members can decide the party's future.

Sin Chew Daily received a lot of reader's calls recently. An elder reader said: “We don't want MCA news, how boring it is to see them blubbering. MCA is unable to represent the Chinese community and Chinese people don't want MCA...” A colleague from the Circulation Department also said that MCA stories are not able to increase the paper's circulation. Thus, we can see that people are very tired of MCA crisis and they have been disheartened.

"The 60-year-old shop will sooner or later shut down."

When I first joined the media industry, I used to severely criticise MCA whenever there was an opportunity. The then boss of mine gave me an advice that I should not use such strong words. But now, I do not think I have done wrong.

In MCA history, the party had gone through one after another power struggle over the past 60 years and the Chinese community had been fooled many times. For example, during the party crisis between Tan Koon Swan and acting President Datuk Neo Yee Pan, the Chinese community greatly supported the Tan faction but unexpectedly, the crisis was followed by the outbreak of the Cooperative Finance scandal in which a former MCA leader was sent to jail and many people lost their deposits.

After experiencing one after another party crisis, today's MCA does not have a soul but only interests. In fact, it sustains only on interests. The Ong faction may get united with the Chua faction for interests today and central committee members who supported Vice-President Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai may shift to support Ong tomorrow. Similarly, grassroot leaders may just simply change their stands for interests without caring about principles and democracy.

Wanita Chief Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun asked what was the problem for the members to go sightseeing after attending the Liow faction's EGM briefing? The problem is, if it was really for the party's future, would they still have the mood for sightseeing? Was the briefing the main purpose, or the sightseeing? If Liow faction's 28 Nov EGM was meant to defend democracy, why are they able to raise only tens of thousands ringgit?

The three MCA factions have to treat the grassroots dinner in order to brief them. Would they attend the briefing without a dinner treat? When Pakatan Rakyat gathered its supporters and members, they met in sweltering stadiums without any delicacy. As for MCA, it has been stressing only on interests but not democracy, reform and principles. The 60-year-old shop will sooner or later shut down.

The shameless MCA leaders are proceeding in the opposite direction of democracy stressed in the globalisation era. They are as well getting farther and farther away from young people. The hollowness of MCA political ideology and the emptiness of its values have pushed the party to the edge of the cliff under the two-line system. Once BN sets up the “Friends of Barisan Nasional”, Najib can directly contact with representatives of all groups. The entire MCA will collapse after loosing its power and position.

More than six million of Chinese people may give up MCA but the one million party members cannot do that. MCA members must control their own desires and come forward to save the not democratic and crumbling MCA. (By LIM SUE GOAN/ Translated by SOONG PHUI JEE/ Sin Chew Daily)