Stanley Koh | June 10, 2013
Free Malaysia Today

The consensus seems to be that the rot has gone too deep to be removed, at least in the foreseeable future.

COMMENT

Is it at all possible to arrest the rot in MCA so that it can begin nursing itself back to health in order to regain its standing as a political organisation capable of representing the interests of Malaysian Chinese?

As things stand today, there is little reason to be optimistic.

Even as it licks the wounds from the worst electoral beating it has suffered in its 64-year history, MCA appears to be inviting embarrassing questions about the quality of its current leadership. Of course, pundits were already asking similar questions long before the recent general election, but developments after the polls have intensified doubts about the leadership’s political maturity and its courage to institute reforms.

Commenting on deputy president Liow Tiong Lai’s announcement last week that the party was preparing a blueprint for reforms, internal critics told FMT it could be an attempt to whitewash a reversal of the pledge to reject appointments at all levels of the BN government.

They said such a U-turn seemed more and more likely now, with its proponents arguing that the party must heed the public call for it to abandon such a politically unwise pledge.

Cognate to that pledge is the recent talk from some MCA figures that the party should “re-think” its role in BN and its relationship with its political master, Umno. But many observers, including party insiders, have dismissed this as another dishonest attempt to generate a public perception that MCA has its ears to the ground and is serious about addressing its weaknesses.

They say it takes more than mere talk to dispel the widespread belief that MCA will always be a parasite in BN. They point to other recent statements by party leaders which indicate that their supposed determination to address political realities are dimmed by their addiction to the double role of being Umno’s whipping boy and BN’s apologist.

Indeed, hundreds of grassroots members are openly accusing party boss Chua Soi Lek of endorsing BN as a refuge for the incompetent, the corrupt and the cowardly.
That is not all of Dr Chua’s troubles. Party elections are impending, and his rivals have started accusing him of endangering the party’s future by implementing ill-advised campaign strategies for the recent election and making other moves indicative of poor leadership.

A group of party veterans have even pleaded for his immediate resignation.

But the pessimism among some insiders is so deep that they do not see MCA finding a way out of its dark tunnel even with a change of leadership. They say the current leaders are too naive or ignorant to handle challenges posed by the new generation of politically conscious Malaysians.

The internal elections are expected to begin with branch-level polls in the middle of next month.

Word is spreading that the election will be a fight between factions aligned to Dr Chua, Ong Ka Ting and Ong Tee Keat. However, some pundits, noting the fluidity of the current scenario, do not rule out an eventual alignment of two of the factions, resulting in a straight fight for the presidency.

Insiders have told FMT that deputy president Liow recently broke ranks with Dr Chua following the failure of a deal to inject cash and other assets from Matang Holdings into the publicly listed Scope Industries. Many believe Dr Chua was behind the push for the reverse takeover.

Flimsy partnership

Few are surprised that the Chua-Liow partnership has not lasted long. It was a flimsy partnership to begin with, based only on their common objective to oust former president Ong Tee Keat.

Liow is said to be the new head of a faction previously led by Ong Ka Ting, another former president. His lieutenants include Ong Ka Chuan, Wee Ka Siong and Wee Jeck Seng, all of whom won the parliament seats they contested for recently.

Pundits say it is probably inevitable that Liow’s faction will be the main contender against the pro-Chua faction for party posts.

Is Liow capable of leading MCA? Many within the party ranks are asking this question and regretting that the answer is probably “No.” One party veteran told FMT he did not see any of the current leaders as capable of restoring MCA to its former glory.

Lately Liow seems to be assuming the role of party spokesman on many issues. In announcing the reform blueprint, he said would be drafted following public feedback on the party’s structural weaknesses and perceived political impotence.

Insiders say the tone of some of his recent remarks—in public as well as in private—indicate that he blames the party president for those weaknesses.

Perhaps, Liow should heed an old Chinese saying to the effect that a good leader should take more blame for failures and less credit for successes.
By putting the blame squarely on the Chua’s shoulders, Liow and his faction are ignoring the fact that he is deputy president and therefore guilty of ignoring his conscience when he agreed to every one of his boss’ foolish decisions.

Will a new leadership be good enough for MCA to win back support from Chinese voters?

A Chinese proverb suggests that in an ideal leadership succession, veteran leaders should groom their subordinates for power. Party insiders say there have been no such programme worthy of the name. They doubt that the current second echelon leaders are capable of turning the party around or are up to the task of re-inventing it.

MCA veterans told FMT they found the second echelon as pathetically lacking in political courage and wisdom as their elders.

“MCA is caught between a rock and a hard place,” said one veteran. “Its current leaders are failures and there is little hope any new line-up will bring back credibility to the party.”