MCA finds cheap thrill in DAP woes

By Stanley Koh - Free Malaysia Today

COMMENT DAP’s current troubles in Selangor must be as thrilling to MCA as a sex video is to a porn addict. Its publicity machine is probably working overtime to extract every dirty detail, real or imagined, from the feuding in DAP.
MCA does need some political breakthroughs to regain the ground it has been losing since the 2008 election debacle. Since its recent brainstorming retreat, its publicity bureau has been closely monitoring the ground for bad news in rival parties, like vultures circling in the sky sniffing for blood.

And was the smell strong when the blame game in Selangor DAP broke into the open! MCA’s publicity people wet ecstatic, churning out and disseminating widely all the anti-Pakatan propaganda they could spin, hoping to regain the party’s tarnished image.

Loh Seng Kok, the vice chairman of the MCA publicity bureau, accused DAP of hypocrisy in its handling of the feud between Ronnie Liu and Tee Boon Hock. It said the issue exposed DAP as a party that held double standards.

Liu and Tee, both state executive councillors, are embroiled in a quarrel over letters of support given to companies seeking business contracts.

Tee has since been sacked from DAP but can continue as municipal councillor for Klang. He is reputed to have strong grassroots support and was once Liu’s special assistant.

Liu will face the DAP disciplinary board on Aug 12. The board has also summoned Selangor assembly speaker Teng Chang Khim for twittering an objectionable remark about the squabbling.

In his eagerness to strike while the iron is hot, it does not seem to matter to Loh that he has not quite grasped the true meaning of DAP’s internal politicking on the issue.

“The action taken by DAP’s disciplinary board to sack Tee Boon Hock without trial went against the party’s principle to abolish the Internal Security Act,” said Loh, as spokesman for MCA.

Attacking DAP for dragging Teng to the disciplinary board over a Twitter message, he said: “DAP has made it to the record books in prosecuting its member for utilising technology like Twitter, a weapon well used by the party to spread its propaganda.

“The public has the right to know the truth and Teng has only done the right thing by voicing out” his disappointment that Tee, not Liu, had been sacked.

Teng’s twit was “OMG! Real culprit is freed.”

Facts are sacred

We cannot blame Loh for playing his role as deputy publicity chief, a post he deserves for his loyalty to his new political master, Dr Chua Soi Lek. However, he should not forget that although comments are free, facts are sacred.

Comparing a political party’s disciplinary action to the torture of ISA detainees is more than a bit too much. It is ludicrous.

Loh chose not to mention DAP’s internal inquiry and fact-finding efforts before the sacking.

The happenings in Selangor DAP are nothing compared to the kind of political sclerosis afflicting MCA, a party that breeds suspicion and distrust and goes through one crisis after another.

MCA’s former president, Dr Ling Liong Sik, was fond of quoting the proverb about fish starting to rot from the head. MCA’s history of leadership crises proves him right.

MCA has a distinguished history of abandoning democratic principles. It supported the passing of the ISA and continues to support its implementation. Opposition parties vehemently spoke against the legislation and continue to condemn it.

Both DAP strongmen Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng have suffered under the ISA for their political principles, for giving voice to their conscience.

Speaking of democratic principles, Loh must remember that in 2001, MCA suspended its youth wing over the infamous chair-throwing incident despite the fact that the youth leaders were democratically elected.

There were allegations that the fiasco was pre-planned. It included a bomb hoax, a fistfight and chair throwing. Ong Tee Keat, who was youth chief at that time, was supposedly found responsible for the fracas.

Despite the lodging of a police report, the truth has never surfaced. So, what type of transparency, accountability and responsibility is Loh talking about?

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Pundits and party insiders speculate that the current problems are the result of a keen power struggle between supporters of Ronnie Liu and Ean Yong Hian Wah, successor to former Selangor DAP chairman Ong Chee Keong, who was ousted in 2007 for indiscipline.

Has the MCA practised what it is now preaching?

MCA members and the public have the right to know the truth about the 2001 incident.

It is doubtful that MCA can convince the public that its criticism of its archrival is sincere and came out of its commitment to principles.

Blossoming into a nightmare
The attacks merely remind the public that the party and its partners in Barisan Nasional have yet to show that they can practise what they preach.

MCA may be hoping that memories are short, but voters in Selangor remember the track records of previous menteri besar Muhammad Muhammad Taib and Dr Mohd Khir Toyo. One was caught trying to leave Australia without declaring millions of ringgit in cash, and the other is the target of suspicion for massive corruption.

A former prime minister in 1995 characterised DAP’s Kit Siang as “an absolute failure” as an opposition leader. It was in April that year that the opposition parties suffered heavy electoral losses.

DAP has struggled hard since then and you cannot easily question its credibility these days, although it still has some work to do to improve its delivery system to the citizens of states in which it is part of the ruling coalition. Supporters expect it not to gamble away the opportunities it has been given.

As for MCA, the passenger on the BN bus driven by Umno, there is scant ground for optimism regarding its future.

Nevertheless, there are pundits who do not discount the possibility of MCA rising from the ashes of defeat in Selangor. This could well happen if DAP continues to create its own crises.

Pundits and party insiders speculate that the current problems are the result of a keen power struggle between supporters of Ronnie Liu and Ean Yong Hian Wah, successor to former Selangor DAP chairman Ong Chee Keong, who was ousted in 2007 for indiscipline.

DAP’s impending election in November this year is also cited as the cause of the power struggle.

When self-interested politicians lock horns, there is always a danger of the fire spreading far and wide even though the original problem is localised.

The DAP leadership would be well advised to nip the problem in the bud before it gets the chance to blossom into a nightmare.

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Stanley Koh is the former head of MCA's research unit.