MCA presidential challenger Chua Jui Meng's unprecedented move of unveiling a manifesto for his contest in the party polls next month has drawn mixed reactions from Chinese community leaders.

The document outlines the MCA vice-president's vision for the future of the party and how he aims to resolve issues affecting the Chinese community.

After reading Chua's 20-page manifesto, several Chinese social commentators expressed their disappointment that there was nothing new in it.

However, Chua was also commended for being the only MCA candidate contesting in a party election to come up with an elaborate manifesto.

Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall Chief Executive Officer Tang Ah Chai said the general impression is that the manifesto lacks concrete direction and avoids taking a stand on some critical issues such as the take-over of Nanyang Press Holdings and the re-opening of the SJKC Damansara.

He said the manifesto did not reveal how the MCA, as a member of the ruling coalition, could fully mobilise state resource to improve the status of the Chinese community.

Tang felt that Chua should also have come out clearly on the issue of MCA's political infiltration into Chinese guilds and associations which has turned them into 'sidekicks' of the party.

Social commentator Lee Ban Chen (photo above) pointed out that the manifesto was framed within the mind-set of ethnic politics and continued to run along the lines of MCA's political ideology.

Good for democracy

"The manifesto failed to touch on bigger issues bothering our nation such as ethnic politics or the regression of democracy," he pointed out.

However Lee and MCA political observer Phoon Weng Keong both commended Chua for being the first and possibly only MCA candidate to have a manifesto for a party election.

"This public presentation of political ideas, even within a party election, is a good sign for democracy. Modern politics is all about the competition of rhetoric and speech but MCA politicians do not pay attention on this," Phoon said..

"As a result, the current party polls is messy with almost all the candidates focusing only on organisational warfare and failing to articulate any idea or rhetoric. Thus Chua should be commended for his effort of putting together a 12,000-word manifesto, regardless of its quality or content,"he added.

Phoon said that it would be unfair to expect Chua to change overnight as he has been in the MCA/BN framework.

"But he did come up with some new ideas to fit into the old framework, although they were not very impressive. At least, the manifesto shows that Chua is more creative compared to his opponent, Ong Ka Ting he said.

Phoon also pointed out that Chua is displaying his professionalism and understanding on economic issues by mentioning the elements of social safety net and small and medium industries of the Chinese communities in his manifesto.

Comparatively, Ong is much weaker in these aspects, he added.

Symbolic case

On the reform of Huaren Holdings, Tan said the manifesto deliberately skipped the issues of Nanyang Press Holdings with Chua avoiding making a stand on how he would handle the matter if elected president.

"By not stating his intention about Nanyang Press, Chua has contravened his own stand of opposing the take-over of Nanyang and China Press. He might lose credibility among those who opposed the take-over," said Phoon.

Tang also took Chua to task for not mentioning the case of SJKC Damansara in his blueprint for education.

"The school is a symbolic case in Chinese education in the country but Chua did not state his position on the matter," he added.

Tang said he was happy to note that Chua has called for a revamp of the MCA disciplinary board.

The board must comprise of people without conflict of interests so that the principle of fairness would not be violated, he said.

Phoon also thought that it would have been a good idea if Chua could declare that Ong Ka Ting would remain a cabinet minister even if he was no longer MCA president.

This, he said, would surely go down well with the delegates as it would kill off the suggestion that Chua was only keen to go for the presidency in order to become a minister again.