MCA: Life is but a walking shadow

When Tan Cheng Lock decided to form a political organisation, it was with the aim of securing for the Chinese a future in soon-to-be independent Malaya. For all their so-called economic organisation, the Chinese were the least politically organised community.

Many were oriented towards China, the localised Peranakan Chinese community was still clinging on to a dying British Empire. The MCA was born out of necessity: if the Chinese are to have a future in Malaya, they needed a political vehicle to organise themselves and through this organisation, their voice could be heard.

Thus from the beginning, the cornerstone of the MCA's existence was the welfare of the Chinese community. But Tan Cheng Lock also aspired to a shared future with other ethnic groups.

He was, for a long while, a member of the multi-ethnic Independence of Malaya (IMP) party, led by the president of Umno, Onn Jaafar. Both leaders believed that whilst race-based parties were necessary to organise their respective communities, the future of Malaya laid in a broad umbrella party like the IMP. But history played out differently and the race-based parties grew in strength.

The defeat of the IMP and the victory of the Alliance Party secured for Umno a dominant role. Malaya was ceremonially and symbolically a Malay state. Once the British were gotten out of the way, an uneasy alliance emerged with an MCA that was no longer satisfied playing second-fiddle to Umno.

Tan Cheng Lock was challenged and defeated as MCA president. Dr Lim Chong Eu who won was president for only a short-while. He fell out with Tunku Abdul Rahman when he requested that the MCA be allowed to contest in at least a third of the parliamentary constituencies. This would safeguard the non-Malay community from the random amendments of the Constitution.

Reduced to 15MPs

Many in Umno saw this as a challenge to 'Ketuanan' Melayu, although that term did not yet gain its current political traction. Chong Eu was forced to step down and a Tunku-backed Tan Siew Sin emerged as MCA president. From that day till now, the MCA has been playing a supporting role in the Alliance and its successor the Barisan Nasional. Nothing wrong with a supporting role and some very sound fiscal policies did emerge when Siew Sin was finance minister.

But the party continued to lose Chinese support. This was because the Chinese lived in urban areas and faced challenges unique to urban living. The MCA being part of a national coalition whose strength lay in the rural areas was seen as too weak to champion 'Chinese issues'. The main recipient of their votes were the opposition whether they were the Labour Party, the Socialist Front, the DAP and the Pakatan Rakyat today.

Every time the MCA elected a president that did not get on with Umno, one can be assured that his stewardship would not last. Nonetheless, the party continued to win in constituencies where the Malays were a majority. It was kept alive and dependent on Umno. There is no better illustration of this than the fate of the MCA today, reduced to just 15 members of parliament.

But the MCA was and continues to be a party in government. There was much infighting as political aspirants rushed to move up the ladder.

During the long presidencies including that of Tan Siew Sin and Dr Ling Liong Sik, the MCA has grown wealthier as a political party, more bureaucratic as an organisation and drifted further from the aspirations of the community.

Without any real political clout, the MCA expanded its welfare services with much good works achieved in the fields of education (TAR college & Utar) and a public complaints bureau (Michael Chong's outfit). But solid votes especially from urban constituents eluded the party.

The problem is an existentialist one. Of all the different ethnic groups in Malaysia, the Chinese are the most urbanised and there is a large professional class. In short, they are the least dependent on government.

In the recent past, even MCA's power of patronage has been much reduced as aspiring Chinese businessmen went directly to Umno politicians for business opportunities.

MCA also suffered as it become dominated by the Chinese-educated. It was starved of talent and the special ability to "get-along" with other ethnic groups. The party of Tan Cheng Lock shrank and retreated into a silo.

Biggest crisis ever

Today, MCA is facing its biggest crisis ever. Most have dismissed the party as dead already. Ong Tee Keat's moral crusade and his insistence on framing his struggle in moral terms has proven
disastrous. The refusal of Dr Chua Soi Lek to give up and his latest move to get reinstated as Deputy President through an appeal to the Registrar of Societies (ROS) can only lead to more trouble ahead for the BN’s second-largest party.

More troubling is the fact that the second echelon is colourless. They are also fractious and as committed to in-fighting as past generations. There are no visionaries Chong Eu, no big policies for Malaysia, no refining statement only bitterness and bile.

MCA continues to suffer from a lack of vision. The party leadership is not only out of touch with ordinary Malaysians they do not have the foresight or the will to leave the stage gracefully when their roles have been played out. One is reminded of Shakespeare's words when thinking about MCA: "Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard of no more."

To the wider Malaysian community, the implosion of MCA is an indication of what can happen to political parties that continue holding on to out-worn creeds.

MCA may be the first race-based party to bite the dust if it cannot find the resolve to get its house in order. Its current leadership battle resembles "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

NEIL KHOR recently completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge. He is co-author of 'Non-Sectarian Politics in Malaysia: The Case of Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia' (2008).