After being removed from the cabinet following the last general election, MCA vice-president Chua Jui Meng is back, and has his eyes set on the party presidency in this Saturday's polls.

In an interview with malaysiakini, he said a leader should not shy away from meeting the people and party members. He also talked about the importance of a written manifesto and his visions for the party and community.


Malaysiakini: What are your comments regarding your opponent, incumbent president Ong Ka Ting's decision to turn down your invitations to a public debate on the grounds that it will affect the party's image?

Chua: In every mature democratic election, the candidates especially those contesting for top posts, irrespective of their status, would have a debate.

Were you disappointed?

I was sad. It is the spirit of democracy that when we come to a crucial election like this, people require viable and credible leaders with a sense of openness and a desire to communicate with them. If we say we represent a group of people, we must be prepared to meet them.

So now you have met the Chinese community, debated with Umno Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin, but have yet to debate with your opponent face to face.

Yes, I invited him twice, (to debate) in Mandarin and English but he declined. One of the Chinese newspapers has been playing up the issue that candidates with a Chinese education background have an advantage (in the polls). I don't have a Chinese education background but I am prepared to meet him and debate in Mandarin.

I am prepare to meet him (to debate) using any three languages (English, Mandarin and Bahasa Malaysia) because this nation requires leaders able to communicate in all three languages. MCA must always remember we cannot be a 'kampung hero' (village hero) because we are not only representing the Chinese community but all Malaysians as well.

Are you calling your opponent a 'kampung hero'?

No, I'm talking generally about the qualities of a leader that we should possess.

How about the claims by your rivals that they are already implementing the visions mentioned in your manifesto?

Really? (Let them) state it in writing. If it is in written form, people can evaluate the leader's performance for the coming 10 years. But if it is verbal, I can guarantee people will forget, even the central delegates will forget. You must spell it out in black and white.

What if they say they are implementing it?

Ok, life long learning is your vision, what is that? You have think-tanks behind you like Insap (Institute of Strategic Analysis and Policy Research), I don't have an Insap and a large headquarters behind me. Immediately when I decided to fight for the presidency, I came out with a written manifesto. I still managed to do it because the vision is burning in my heart and there is no leadership position to express it. Only the president has the leadership position within the party to make changes.

How about the comment by vice-president Dr Chua Soi Lek that some leaders are quiet in the party but speak out loudly outside?

I think anybody who has been working with me since I was in the central committee in 1987 will know that Chua Jui Meng is a person who has never shrunk from speaking up on important issues such as my parliamentary speech on the Chinese dilemma in 1988 and the Nanyang issue. The Bible says 'a fool that keeps his silence is wise'. When the time is right, you should speak and speak wisely.

Some have noted that your opponents are working hard as a team and you appear to be more of a lone-ranger campaigning on your own.

I'm not disputing that they don't work hard but is the work that is done the work we expect from a president? The leaders of the past built Kojadi, TAR College, Utar. I say the time has come to address the call of some commentators that MCA should not be a social organisation. You must recognise your responsibility to the community. They don't want to see a social organisation just doing social work like education. They think you are a political party, so you should behave like a party.

How are you going to change this?

First of all, any political party must be strong and have sustainability in the new era, so we must have a vision. Today the circumstances have changed from the last century, now 80 percent of the Chinese community are middle-class with higher education and they want to know 'what is your relevance to me'. I know in their hearts, they want a major transformation. There must be a master plan in politics, economy, education and culture. These are all spelt out clearly in my manifesto.

Some skeptics suggested that you were voiding making a clear stand on several controversial issues such as the takeover of Nanyang Press Holding, the closing of SRJK(C) Damansara, and the language switch. What is your stand?

They (the isssues) were decided by Barisan Nasional leaders, and were government policies. I understand the position of the government. Now I'm not the president, not in the position to change, so please be patient. But we can see this (Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's) administration is moving towards a more people-friendly approach. I have said that politics is the art of possibility. There must be timing. I'm committed to address all the issues.

In my master plan, I proposed to set up four national committees to discuss every issue. If they want to discuss the language switch or SRJK(C ) Damansara, let them discuss. Because this is a rational government, we have to raise issues based on knowledge, facts, and statistics.

You told Oriental Daily News recently that you have been suppressed in your campaign. Do you still have problems meeting the delegates?

Enormous problems. A few independent delegates were prepared to openly declare support for me, but immediately they received phone calls. Their system is so pervasive, I don't know how they mark it but they certainly have the system of surveillance. I won't use the word 'suppression' but this is their practice. I don't control the media.

They are controlled by the incumbent for the use of extraordinary purposes, like in one of the Chinese newspapers recently, my remark was distorted, giving a bad impression of myself. Even in the English media, when I released my manifesto, they only carried a small item on it. Nobody knew what is in my manifesto. I had meetings with the Chinese societies, they (the newspapers) didn't carry it. It is so clear, blacked out or minimised until it is meaningless.

If we look at the polls, it is a free-for-all contest and the incumbents also cannot practice 'menu' politics. Are you aligning with any other candidate?

What is happening today is that we are having a 'set lunch' and not a 'menu'. Throughout the country, the same song has been sung, 'just elect this two' (president Ong and deputy Chan Kong Choy), you all must raise your hands.

They are saying 'you guys, don't think, just follow, is not your job to think or analyse, just raise your hands for the 'set lunch'. So there is need for dramatic change. The disciplinary committee must be changed based on my witnessing of certain incidents that have happened.

Such as?

I don't want to mention them. In the new MCA, the disciplinary committee should comprise people without a conflict of political interest. That is the basic principle of justice.

Let's come back to your debate with Khairy over the New Economic Policy (NEP) issue. How do you gauge the minds of Umno leaders?

Umno has a very good political system because they have vision. They know exactly what they want. They have concrete programmes, not only symbolic. Even the Youth have the vision of setting up a national agenda and have a monitoring agency for the Malays. They are hard thinkers and smart thinkers.

But there is fear within the Chinese community.

I understand the fear and I need to make a stand. When the issue came out, I sent my statement to all the media including TV stations because this is not a Chinese issue, it is a national issue that must be solved collectively by Malaysians of all races, especially the bumiputeras. I did not pick the line to only give my statement to the Chinese press to become a Chinese hero, a 'kampung hero'.

You were among the top brass in MCA during past president Dr Ling Liong Sik's era. Some commentators believe that if you had not 'crossed the line' during the Nanyang take over, you could have been president today. What motivated you to make that stand?

It was a stand based on principles that expose me to political risks by making speeches like the one I made in Parliament in 1988. The Chinese community was very unhappy with the takeover of Nanyang by MCA. I had to make a stand. Do I protect my ministership or stand with the Chinese community? That was the choice.

People say because I'm English-educated so I cannot understand the Chinese community. I made the speech in 1988, which is now uploaded onto my website, and made my stand on the Nanyang issue because I knew the heart of the Chinese community. It was not superficial. Who says that they understand and I do not understand? I came up with the theory of 'fish and water'. The Chinese community is water and we are the fish. The water can continue without the fish but the fish cannot survive without the water.

Some have claimed that you had covered up the Nipah virus and Sars outbreaks during your tenure as health minister. What is your comment?

During the Sars epidemic, we responded to questions from day to day. The way we fought the Sars was a very dynamic approach, mobilising 10,000 people in the country. Do you know how well we did? We did not only mobilise the country, we mobilised the whole region. We were the ones who called the meeting of all health ministers of Asean plus 3. In the Nipah issue, the political virus was much worse than the actual virus. We were fighting a war and people's lives were at stake and yet they had a political agenda against me.

I don't want to mention who, 'siapa yang makan cili, dia tahu pedas'. There was a political agenda just before the last party election to get rid of me. In those days, which minister dared to visit the ICU to show their concern to the dying Nipah patients? But I walked into those dangerous places because my heart is with the people. The central delegates told me 'don't worry about the Nipah, we know what happened', and 95 percent of the central delegates supported me.

What is your wish for the coming election?

I wish that delegates can exercise their right in full secrecy and the election will be done in a peaceful and harmonious manner. I have the fullest confidence in the delegates despite the open declaration culture and 'set lunch'.

They will know how to vote because they realise that they also represent the six millions Chinese in this country. I believe the central delegates will say that there is an urgent need now to have a new politics, new vision and new MCA.