Are we about to see and experience a gallant effort by an ethnic-based political party, the MCA, to change the political culture of our nation? Or is it yet another attempt by its lieutenants to weaken its competitor by manipulating a local issue in order to reclaim the jewel symbolic to its political legitimacy, to champion and represent the Chinese Malaysian interests?


The Penang chief ministership in the only Chinese-majority state in Malaysia is that jewel elusive to MCA's claim of leadership of the local Chinese community.


Our political culture has always practised party's consensus in decision-making and this is evident from several instances when those who failed to toe the party line were removed or asked to leave the party. This is crucial to the cohesiveness of a party and in this respect to a coalition such as the Barisan Nasional. Hence, any representative from any party who disagrees with the party's decision must first seek recourse within the party to air his/her view or raise an objection. This has been the BN modus operandi since its founding.


MCA, one of the founding members of BN, knows the rule. Right or wrong, the two MCA state assembly representatives should have anticipated the consequence of their behaviour in infringing the rule of thumb which is to respect party consensus and try to resolve whatever disagreement within the party's official channel. What then motivated the duo's action in abstaining from voting on a motion from the DAP to delay the Penang Outer Ring Road (Porr) project?


There are a few conspiracy theories pounding in the air including the one revealed by Gerakan president Dr Lim Keng Yaik,, accusing Penang MCA chairperson Wong Kam Hong of instigating several anti-Porr groups to create groundswell against the state government's intention to build the Porr.


Like Gerakan, Wong is not without his nemesis in Penang. His appointment as the Penang MCA chairperson through the peace deal between the Team A and Team B in MCA is closely watched by his ambitious deputy, Koay Kar Huah, who in the last election placed his men to contest for several divisional positions in Bayan Baru.


Perhaps, the pressure of leadership tussle between the two leaders has pushed Wong to subtly work with forces within Penang who are disgruntled with several government initiatives such as the Porr to undermine the leadership of Dr Koh Tsu Koon and Gerakan in the state government.


Koay has openly announced his faction's intention to wrest the state leadership from Penang while Wong, in response to the statement, told the press that this is not the official stand of Penang MCA, while respecting the status quo.


Wong's action, if found to be true, could be made to appease the faction who supported Koay's intention.


However, this is not the first time the Penang MCA has attempted to undermine the Gerakan-led state government. It was also widely rumoured that some MCA leaders have backed the SOS movement in Penang which protested against the repeal of the Rent Control Act although the action is not half as serious and grave as the recent open opposition to Porr.


Meanwhile, a few Gerakan leaders are surprised that it took Lim Boo Chang so long to muster an action against the Gerakan-led government in Penang. Many Gerakan leaders and supporters still have good memory of Lim's cunning sabotage of the party leadership in Penang by crossing over to MCA together with Lim Chien Aun after winning their respective seats on the former's quota, an episode which is now famously known as the "Two Lims saga".


If the state leadership and the chief ministership are determined by the number of representatives a party has in the state assembly, the move could have proved costly for Gerakan. Fortunately for Gerakan, its partner in the coalition, Umno has maintained its support and endorsement of the party to continue to lead the state government. Umno has once again played its role of imposing the status quo and power balance in Penang.


Lim's failure to affect the Gerakan-led government in Penang could also spell an end to his political career as a state assembly representative. Gerakan is expected to make a strong claim of the Dato Keramat seat because the seat comes under its quota. The Umno factor could once again force the Penang MCA to abide by the BN formula of seat allocation.


The possibility of Lim to be retained as a candidate under the MCA banner is slim unless the leadership replaces an incumbent or allocates him with a new seat. Again, this is highly unlikely especially when he is still considered a junior leader in Penang. Another reservation is Lim's personality and the trust issue.


Already there were rumours several months ago that Lim might stand as an independent in Dato Keramat to see off his unfinished business with Gerakan in Penang. His abstention of the Porr motion with clear understanding of its consequence could be a calculated effort to garner public support and sympathy for his heroic and selfless sacrifice to stand up for the people, especially the affected residents of the project. He could be hoping for the public sentiment upon his punishment to snowball against Dr Koh's leadership which the Penang MCA has tried to portray as inept in managing the project.


Lim has chosen to exit as a hero and a martyr who has the interests of the people at heart. What has been blinded from the fact is the politics of revenge, retribution and hatred between Lim and Gerakan, the party which helped to launch his political career. Lim's choice of the Porr is to ensure that the issue will remain a thorn to Gerakan-led government in the run-up to the next general elections.


The real purpose of Tan Cheng Liang's abstention is rather mixed and unclear. She claimed that what she has done is merely an act of fulfilling her responsibility as an elected representative of the people. Oddly, her constituency is not affected by the Porr which is on the island and nowhere near Jawi which is located on the mainland.


Under the current milieu, is Tan acting beyond her role as the assembly representative of Jawi by claiming to also represent the people of the affected constituencies in Penang to voice their disagreement against the project? Her action can also be read as an act to undermine the competency and legitimacy of her MCA colleagues from Air Itam and Bukit Gelugor whose constituents are directly affected by the highway project. Both the MCA representatives voted against the motion.


As the elected representative of Jawi since 1995, Cheng Liang enjoys good support from her constituents. Although known as a strong critique of Koh's leadership, her action surprised many because as a seasoned politician she should have analysed her position well before making such a serious move to abstain on an important motion by the DAP. With her motive unclear, the plot thickens as Gerakan recently announced that they have identified the mastermind behind the controversy. However, Tan has since indicated her retirement from active politics.


The Penang MCA claimed that the two are sincere in their action to represent the grouses and interests of their constituents. Whatever the claims are, the spirit of BN coalition in Penang has been dampened by such open confrontation of rivalry between MCA and Gerakan.


MCA, an ethnic-based party thriving on the Chinese community support in the past through social welfare work, must now prove that it is sincere and genuine in representing the views and interests of the people, especially the Chinese Malaysian. Its effort to change the political culture of the country to allow for more individual differences and dissent within the party must be consistent in order to shake off public opinion that the Porr abstention is not a political melodrama acted out by the party.


Surprisingly, on the proposed education reforms which affect millions of school children, the MCA is dragging its feet to crystallise its stand on the proposed reforms.


The Umno-led education reforms have created several implementation issues which, if left unresolved, could lead to worsening of class differences and knowledge gaps and eventually cause even greater polarisation. They are:


  • The use of computer-aided instruction (CAI) to teach both Mathematics and Science will lead to further erosion of proficiency standards of the two subjects. It can also impede learning skills. Evidence of the shortcomings of the CAI was presented in a study reported by Dr J Angrist and Dr Lavay of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.


  • The use of teaching scripts to aid teachers who are not proficient in English to teach the subjects in English will lead to a monotonous and ineffective learning environment. The best conventional method of teaching for effective learning must be interactive and promotes discussion between students and teacher (The Star, Dec 23)


  • The Education Ministry recently imposed conditions on the teaching of Mathematics and Science in English by stipulating that schools with less than 150 pupils and those without electricity supply need not implement the policy. The conditions invariably affected as many as 60 percent of all Tamil schools and many other national and vernacular schools in the rural areas.


    By remaining silent on the proposed education reforms, is MCA implying that the plights of millions of school children and their parents are not worthy of a voice in the Parliament and state assemblies?


    If it is a genuine effort of the MCA to change our political culture and not the act of political sabotage that the party is more interested in, the people are awaiting their stand on the looming dilemmas of the proposed education reforms.