Let MCA and Gerakan 'eat eggs'

COMMENT A lot has been written about the Chinese voters being staunchly for Pakatan Rakyat with a variety of reasons offered. The government has tried everything to get the Chinese to come back to BN. Yet, I believe, as we inch closer to the 13th general election, both the MCA and Gerakan are going to have to eat a lot of eggs.

“Please do not let us eat egg”, the now famed plea by Selangor MCA chief Donald Lim Siang Chai (right) shows the depth of desperation by the senior BN component party. This is the party of Tan Cheng Lock and Tan Siew Sin, but it is so uninspiring that there is now on Facebook, a movement called, “1 million Chinese do not want to be represented by the MCA”.

Even Tan Siok Choo - daughter of Tan Siew Sin - said that she supports what the DAP is doing in Penang. I doubt she has changed her mind.

BN gave the Chinese two huge attractions during the recent Chinese New Year. Nationwide, we saw the advertisement featuring the then prime minister playing Chinese drums, whilst his son spoke Mandarin. Whereas in Penang, the Chinese were treated to lion dances, more Chinese drums and ‘Gangnam style’.

But the response was at best lukewarm. No amount of drum-beating can bring Chinese voters back so long as the government does nothing to remedy the double-standards when treating issues related to education, economic policy and the fight against corruption. So, when the PM asked whether Penang is ready for BN, the answer was a resounding “No!”.

MCA president Chua Soi Lek (left) and his cohorts then trooped out all the threats and fear-mongering about PAS, Islamisation, economic downward trends and, best of all, MCA will refuse cabinet positions!

The public reaction to that was encapsulated in Malacca when Ng Yen Yen repeated the doomsday scenario, to which the crowd responded by shouting, “No, no, no!”. It is very silly of MCA leaders to hold Chinese voters to ransom. None other than Ong Tee Keat - former MCA president - said that in public.

For Gerakan, the party’s fortunes have always depended on Penang. Koh Tsu Koon wisely made way for a new generation of leaders and there has been some level of internal cohesion. This would be a great opportunity for the party to bounce back. The party has to go for broke, for if it cannot wrestle away a few seats, it is probably buried forever.

'Thinkers' have deserted Gerakan

So far, there is no sign that Gerakan has the intellectual ‘spark’. No new ideas, just recycled ones, and badly executed criticisms of the nascent state government.

For five years, Gerakan has failed to make a dent in the Pakatan state government. All the brickbats thrown at the opposition coalition is based on very little substance. In fact, it is very clear that Gerakan has been deserted by ‘thinkers’. It cannot even critique state governmental policies effectively.

As for providing an alternative policy for Penang, nothing remotely inspiring has been offered. Pakatan has come out with the Penang Paradigm, but where is Gerakan’s alternative vision for Penang? More of the old recipe will not work. They were thrown out once because of the stale recipe, Penangites are not about to trust them again.

So, it comes to the clash of personalities. Chua Soi Lek (left) is pugnacious, but has not chosen his battles properly. He accuses DAP of selling out the Chinese. Lim Guan Eng has neglected Chinese contractors. Yet, Penang Umno claims the opposite. In the end, it is the experience on the ground that counts. More bumiputera contractors have received contracts from the Penang state government than any other ethnic group.

In the very contentious matter of religious and racial extremism, Koh Tsu Koon recommended that we ignore the extremists. But unlike a fire, religious extremism does not exist in a vacuum. Simply putting one's head in the sand will not solve problems. They need to be challenged on ideas. The lunatic fringe simply needs to be put in its place. Yet, the minister in-charge of national unity advises we do nothing.

Meanwhile, the old warrior Lim Kit Siang is heading back to his home state. He may have been born in Johor, but I am quite sure that he has never won an election there. He has challenged MCA president and former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad to take him on in enemy territory.

Whilst it is understandable for Dr Mahathir not to pick up the gauntlet, there is really very little reason for Chua not to end Kit Siang’s political career in Gelang Patah.

Similarly, Teng Chang Yeow’s (left) refusal to defend his three-term seat of Padang Kota is also rather strange. Obviously, he must know that it is quite tough to win at Padang Kota, but the impression is that he has little confidence to stand in a Chinese-majority seat.

This is a terrible indictment for both Gerakan and MCA. So long as they cannot deliver positive results in Chinese-majority seats and mixed seats, their legitimacy within the BN is compromised. They have lost the battle of impressions even before their campaigning has started.

What both MCA and Gerakan needs to do now is to set aside personal interests and put the party first. The 13th general election is the ‘mother of all battles’ and Donald Lim is right to appeal to the electorate.

MCA, Gerakan may face oblivion

“Don’t let us eat egg,” he said recently. And perhaps he, of all the leaders of the MCA, understands that the tsunami that started in 2008 has continued to sweep through the nation. If it is not stemmed by courage and level-headed decision-making, both these parties will face oblivion.

There are just too many issues to list that explains why Malaysians have deserted MCA and Gerakan. Suffice to say, that whilst some in BN are convinced that the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) and the apparent double-standards practiced in the prosecution of corruption will have little effect on the electorate, it will be GE13 which will reveal how far the Chinese have swung away from the ruling coalition.

Fundamentally, BN is still offering the same formula when managing and developing Malaysia. Many are aware that voting them will not change anything. This is a fatal realisation for BN’s component parties. As Pakatan leaders cried out in March 2008, “To kill Umno, neutralise the component parties first”.

Despite the best efforts by the now caretaker PM, all his policies so far are still regarded as window-dressing. As the title of Lee Hwa Beng’s book on the PKFZ explains, to many Malaysians, the feeling is that the component parties represent “a nation’s trust betrayed”.

NEIL KHOR completed his PhD at Cambridge University and now writes occasionally on matters that he thinks require better historical treatment. He is quietly optimistic about Malaysia's future.