Q&A: I'm not a weak MCA president

In the final part of the interview, MCA president Ong Ka Ting says, contrary to the perception of certain quarters, he is not one who gives in easily when dealing with the ‘big brother’ in Barisan Nasional on issues affecting the Chinese community.

Ong: I know the perception is such. I know what you mean, I know you are not trying to say it is exactly equal to protocol because in terms of protocol, it is always the prime minister and deputy prime minister first.

The prime minister is the (Barisan Nasional’s) highest leader. A lot of things we (MCA) have been talking, discussing and debated in the cabinet, but the problem is once you are sworn in as a minister, you can not disclose anything to anybody and must stick to the code of conduct as a minister - anything you have discussed inside (the cabinet), you shouldn’t talk outside and anything that has become the government policy, you shouldn’t criticise outside. That is the constraint.

A lot of things that happened inside, but there is no way we can tell the outsiders and I don’t blame the people for this (ignorance). That is one setback and one big handicap that we face. As MCA president, you subscribe to this and you have to be part of the cabinet.

The situation then was very different, it was a three-party system and the population ratio was also different.

Not necessary. Before the election, we (Ong and deputy Chan Kong Choy) were carrying the big baggage that we were accused of not doing things even though we were in the government. There are a lot of limitations being in the government. There are advantages of not holding government posts as well.

You need to wait and see and judge how long they can last. Now it’s still early, it’s only around one month (they came into power). On things they announced, we shall see how they implement it. Even before implementation, now PAS has revealed its true face and said when it’s strong enough, it wants to amend the Federal Constitution - you can have all the democracy then but suddenly this country has turned into an Islamic country then. Is that what you want? We must be cautious.

I don’t want to pinpoint any party because we will start to blame others after this. We accepted the election results, that is the democratic spirit. When people have made a democratic decision, you have to accept, find out what’s wrong, then rectify it. I don’t want to be seem to be pointing fingers at anybody.

But at the same time, I must say from now on we want to see all BN component leaders, ministers or state government leaders, whoever they are, whatever they say or do, they have to be really respectful to all races. I feel strong about this. They have to respect, be sensitive and understand the other side of the problem.

From now on, the MCA would really have to voice out and say ‘please don’t forget what is the other side (of the view) and give us the due respect’.

Yes, it should be. The BN cooperation should be there and it must have enough mutual respect.

We are adopting this stand in dealing with major issues and policies. Previously, there were a lot of things we discussed inside (the cabinet), people don’t know and we can’t blame anybody also.

Now if you ask me how to rectify this past weakness, I would say moving forward, we want to see this mutual respect, the sensitivity, all BN leaders must have very multi-racial outlook and very fair thinking to all Malaysians. When MCA talks about the Chinese community’s rights and wishes, we think about our friends - the Malays and Indians - how would they feel on the same issue.

Similarly we expect the Umno leaders when they talk about something for the Malays, they must also think about the lower income group of Chinese and Indians, what plans you have got for them? When you implement policies to help the Malay community, what about the non-Malay community? They also have their problems.

This is what the MCA used to bring up for (cabinet’s) attention but in this respect, we want to see more efficiency and fairness.

We have actually delivered over the years but there is no point to discuss about it again now because people may not be interested. I can only say the voters’ message from this election is that Umno, MCA and other (BN component) parties really have to know the voters’ voice.

If Umno leaders thought that many things cannot be done previously, now they must be aware (of what needs to be done) in between of their previous attitude and this election result. For the MCA, if we thought we have done more that what we should in the past few years, now it is also the time for us to realise that the voters saw this as having not done enough.

This is the impact from the election. If we want to bounce back, all BN component parties must address these issues. For us, we need to make adjustment especially for those who have a say in the decision-making. We must be fair, sensitive and remember from time to time the message from this election, the voters have spoke up and they (leaders) can’t repeat the previous attitude.

The perception is such (because) the people really don’t know how you perform inside the government. That has been the perception which cost us a lot of votes and the overall BN performance to come down (to) this dismay.

Part of the adjustment we have to make known is what we have been fighting for, working out and getting for the community - both Chinese and the multi-racial community (at large). There will be an adjustment of strategy and the way we handle things.

I don’t want to angkat bakul (praise myself) to say I am good. But certainly I have certain qualities in me and it is not exactly as what some people perceived. People who have worked with me know I won’t give up things (easily). I strategise, I never simply give in or give up.

When I felt something is really fair and important for the community (to fight for), I won’t just say ‘cannot, cannot-lah’. I am a very persistent person. The only thing is I may have overlooked the image building part.

(Laughs) That is not the way I handle things. I know at times, people need to be a bit arrogant but whether or not this is a strong point or a weakness... I subscribe to the Confucius philosophy and Confucianism ask us to be humble - that you can be strong but you don’t need to say you are that strong. This is a cultural conflict.

If the moment I start to talk like that, people say this is not Ong Ka Ting. What is important is efficiency and the wisdom (of a leader). You can have a person shouting all the time but at the end of the day, all problems are not resolved.

The election has showed people feel stronger about multi-racialism politics. Multi-racialism politics indicate people’s power and (advocate) less racial, communal kind of confrontation or quarrel, that is a healthy trend. MCA has been committed to a multi-racial outlook although we are communal-based.

We have never said only the Chinese can come to us, a lot of non-Chinese joined us at the (MCA’s) projects. With this stronger call for (multi-racialism in politics), MCA will be even more multi-racial in our outlook. We will speak up loud on any issue that affect different races and majority people across the board. We get the message and making it our way forward.

Unless all component parties have the same feeling that we can really come together and undo a lot of emphasis on race and religion, then it’s a healthy development. If you come together but still emphasise on race and religion, then the merger will have a problem, it will be a question of how fast you break up again.

We can always explore (this possibility). There were a lot of resistance from the grassroots of both sides but I never said no, in fact I was the one who came up with the proposal. At this time, we still can discuss any form of cooperation. I never ruled out (the possibility) that in future some parties can merge but regardless of the merger, you still have to look at the development within Umno, that is the most influential factor.

MCA has been fighting within the government for the original school to be re-opened. It could be done in any way as long as it is re-opened as a Chinese school. We have been persistent on this.

The education minister (Hishammuddin) said he didn’t want to do it during the election period because it could be misconstrued as an election goodie. (Now after the election,) we think it should be done as soon as possible.

It’s the minister’s discretion to (decide when to re-open the school) but now after the election, he should do it as soon as possible, we leave it to the minister to realise this in accordance with the wish of the local residents. It was never our wish to see the matter being prolonged.

As for Nanyang, actually we are no longer playing any role in Nanyang. We are only left with the minority share after the corporatisation exercise, making us having no role in Nanyang. All this (dispute over the Nanyang deal) was in the past. If you read the newspapers now, how could MCA influence their editorial policy?

That is an overestimation of me. There was accusation but it’s unfair. In politics, even if you are doing the right thing with your conscience clear, there are people out there who try to tarnish your name but most important thing is your conscience must be clear.

Q&A: I know I’m doing the right thing

Part two

Q&A: Tell me straight to my face, not at the back