MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Liow Tiong Lai is ecstatic about the “wave of support” from the Chinese voters for the 14th general election, based on the encouraging response received by the party from the community, especially in urban areas.
Liow told reporters at the Tun Razak Division and Federal Territories level Chinese New Year 2018 open house yesterday that he had “walking and talking to the people on the ground” and it was “clearly obvious in Kuala Lumpur, many Chinese have returned to the MCA fold”.
I wish the MCA President good luck, but let me tell him that it will be an eternal blot on the reputation of the MCA leadership if the three MCA Ministers dare not even ask the UMNO leadership to make an open apology for the recent gratuitous attacks on Robert Kuok.
Let me remind Liow and the other top MCA leaders that Robert Kuok had been the benefactor, and even savior, of MCA in its trying times, and for them to stand idle while Robert Kuok was attacked gratuitously by UMNO leaders would be one of MCA’s most shameful episodes.
I said yesterday that in my 53 years in politics, I have not received a single sen from Robert Kuok, whether through his nephew James Kuok or anyone else.
But I will not stand for a grave injustice, which is what the UMNO leaders had perpetrated on Robert Kuok in their recent gratuitous attacks on Robert Kuok.
I have no personal knowledge of what Robert Kuok had done for MCA, but according to his memoir published recently, Robert Kuok had saved MCA many times, including bailing out an MCA president with RM20 million in Singapore in 1986 and rescuing MCA’s business projects that were doomed to fail.
Robert Kuok’s memoirs recounted how he “kept getting dragged into Malaysian politics” even after he relocated to Hong Kong in the 1980s, and the recent gratuitous attacks on him is the most recent case.
From his memoirs, it is clear that Robert Kuok contributed funds to Barisan Nasional and MCA “especially when it comes to election time”.
If MC is not able to defend Robert Kuok from UMNO’s recent gratuitous attacks, may be MCA should cancel its 69th anniversary celebrations altogether.
(Media Statement at Kampong Raja, Cameron Highlands on Monday, February 26,2018)