The hypocrites in the MCA

Editor's note: This is the last of a 12-part series from former health minister and MCA president Chua Soi Lek's book, ‘Like Me or Hate Me: Rising from the Political Ashes’.

BOOK EXCERPT | Hypocrisy is defined as the pretence of having a virtuous character (usually derived from moral or religious beliefs) that one does not really possess. In short, it can be described as a form of moral self-contradiction.

Hypocrisy has various levels of sophistication. Over time, the hypocrite may become so good at practising his art that only the very discerning can detect it. By then, of course, the practitioner would generally have achieved his or her goals.

Everyone wears a mask to work. But while most people may pretend to enjoy their jobs or feign concern for the organisation for which they work, hypocrites cover themselves with self-righteousness.

In politics, they take on the mantle of humility, attempting to convince all and sundry that they have dedicated their lives to serve the public.

Such politicians project themselves as paragons of virtue. Their only calling in life, they say, is to serve mankind. So when they offer themselves for election, voters should embrace them for the common good.

And when they offer themselves as candidates in internal party polls, they are there to save the party. Failing to support them, they argue, would be a serious error.

I have spent 30 years in MCA and have seen a lot of hypocrites. But I lament the fact that God can sometimes seem to be unfair.

If you stand in the general elections and are rejected, you have to accept the fact that the voters do not support you and your party. In the name of democracy, you have to bow to the voters' choice. There are no two ways about it.

Entering the cabinet through the back door

In the rough-and-tumble world of politics, there is nothing hypocritical about having double standards. It is sometimes necessary to deal with uncomfortable discrepancies.

However, when would-be MPs are rejected by voters and proclaim to the world that they accept the verdict, but then allow themselves to be appointed to a higher political office (e.g., as a deputy minister), the move calls into question their allegiance and the high moral principles they claim to support.

Consider the situation carefully: a small group of voters has rejected you, but despite that, you are able to represent 30 million people by virtue of your new position as an appointed senator and deputy minister. What form of morality are such people talking about?

Such politicians are not just frustrating the wishes of the small community of voters that rejected them. They are also demonstrating their lack of political ethics.

They therefore respond by using the prestige of their new office to camouflage the hypocrisy. There is much truth in the saying that if you are a hypocrite, you ultimately have to be self-righteous to hide it.

This explains why such politicians are so hostile to their critics. They become so intoxicated with the power associated with the newly acquired position that they become blind to the fact that they have shown contempt for a very basic principle of democracy.

In one case, this contempt for democracy was displayed for a second time when the would-be MP concerned failed in a subsequent attempt to secure a state seat.

Rejected this time by a smaller group of voters, this person nevertheless accepted reappointment as a deputy minister. This was a display of hypocrisy and self-righteousness of the highest order.

Now there is talk in the MCA that hypocrites like this are being groomed as candidates in different states for the coming general elections.

In the case of the individual referred to above, the next election will be the hypocrite's third attempt, having previously failed in both state and parliamentary elections. Not surprisingly, this master hypocrite is now reported to be moving to a safer parliamentary seat...