RITA SIM
Untangling complexities of Chinese community
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/16ritam/Article/index_html
rita MCA has to resolve its internal problems, and soon, before the Chinese community looks elsewhere for more reliable representation, writes RITA SIM
THE MCA appears to be incapable of resolving its internal leadership crisis. Personalities are a powerful factor, but the MCA turmoil also reflects fundamental cleavages in the Malaysian Chinese community.
tlk MCA is in the process of resolving its internal problems. Unfortunately we are not receiving the encouragement and support from the Chinese media who are by and large having an agenda of their own. Their partisan reporting were obvious to readers and was also acknowledged among their own reporters privately.
rita The MCA leadership conflict should have ended on Oct 10 at the party's extraordinary general meeting when president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat received a no-confidence vote -- he had previously given members his word that he would step down should this eventuate, but then reneged.
Ong has been clearly deprived of a mandate and now rules by fiat, putting the country's six million Chinese in the untenable position of being led by a party with just over 10 per cent (840,489 votes) of the total national vote of 7,944,274.
tlk The MCA leadership conflict would not have ended on Oct 10 even if the President Datuk Seri Ong had stepped down. It was initially planned by third forces from within and outside MCA for Liow to assume the Deputy Presidency and subsequently the Presidency. This would brought about a crisis of a bigger proportion as supporters of Chua Soi Lek and Ong Tee Keat and the general public cannot accept the manner and political approach adopted by Liow to ascend to the Presidency. Liow is perceived to be a puppet of a bigger and sinister force from within and outside the party.
In answer to you assertion of 10% representing the 7, 944, 274 voters...Which party has all their voters or a large number of their voters joining them? The Communist Party of China?
rita To make matters more complex, the Registrar of Societies reappointed Ong's sacked deputy Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, leaving Ong's new deputy, Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, to form a third faction opposing both Ong and Chua.
tlk It is not true that the matter became more complicated and Liow formed a third faction after the decision of the Registrar of Societites to reappoint Chua as the deputy. The Registrar of Societies merely confirmed that there was never any vacancy in the deputy president's post and as such the Central Committee had uphold the spirit of the constitution and the rule of law to accord the deputy his righful place in the party.
It is also not true that Liow had form a third faction opposing Ong and Chua after this decision as Liow had been undermining the President and had also approached Chua to support him to be the president immediately after the results of the EGM was known. The third faction was in existence and was shadowy from the word 'go' but came out in the open when the coast was perceived to be clear for Liow to assume the Presidency.
rita There is increasing speculation that other alternative channels within the Chinese community may step into the political representation vacuum left by the MCA's inability to perform.
tlk As you have rightly pointed out, it is mere speculation fan by the media and shadowy forces with vested interest and hidden agenda to remove Ong Tee Keat by hook or by crook. If they cannot remove Ong Tee Keat as the President of MCA, they are prepared to destroy MCA, sideline MCA or marginalize MCA.
rita There are, for example, more than 7,000 Chinese guilds and associations currently active in the country. These are represented nationally by the Federation of Chinese Associations, or Huazong, through the state Chinese Assembly Halls and Federations.
There is also the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia, which provides effective business representation for some 28,000 constituent companies and trade associations, represented likewise through state organisations.
And there is, of course, the influential United Chinese School Committees Association of Malaysia, known more popularly as Dong Zong, which has often caused controversy for its stand on the development of Chinese vernacular education.
Each of these three groups possesses formidable resources and nationwide reach. Unlike political parties, they stand for specific interests, which, as indicated by of the groups' size and importance in the community, are the three most dominant in the Chinese-speaking Malaysian worldview: Chinese culture, business and vernacular education.
tlk It is in Sin Chew's interest to transfer the political power from MCA to these institutions as the Chinese in the streets are very much controlled and molded by the Chinese media. The power of the Chinese media over the Chinese electorates will render the owner of the media personal power and influence over politicians without having to be directly involved in the political arena.
If succced, Sin Chew would have direct control over Umno leaders and no longer have to deal with MCA leaders that has lesser powers.
The Chinese media had proven their power over these guilds and associations which are normally helm by businessman whose image and standing largely depends on the spins and swings of the Chinese media. Many of these leaders are uneducated and am dependent on the media for publicity and image building.
In the past the pendulum theory is a result of the media spins to dictate to MCA leaders to follow their whims and fancies. The media had been successful in flexing their muscles and MCA leaders had always kow-tow to the media in order to receive favorable reports. Ka Ting was most successful and his rapport with Sin Chew is an open secret.
Despite Ka Ting's proximity with Sin Chew and favorable reports by the media, MCA had unsuccessfully garner the support of the younger electorates who are more critical and independent in their political views.
The emergence of the generation X as new voters will render these associations less influential as the generation X voters are IT savvy and critical in their outlook and viewpoints. They will not be dictated by Chinese media headlines or associations/guilds leaders who are largely lesser educated and some are illiterate.
Furthermore, many of these guilds and associations are mere empty shells with little resources except for their premises, mahjong activities,graveyard management, dinners and pocket-money for school achievers etc. Their members are slowly dwindling and they had admittely failed to engage the youngsters.
The statement that "Each of these three groups possesses formidable resources and nationwide reach" is untrue and a fallacy. It is only true with regard to the 'nationwide reach' that is absolutely dependent on the Chinese media and is now being monopolized by the Sin Chew group.
rita Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin recently met these groups directly, perhaps in a bid to form a better understanding in catering to the needs of the Chinese community.
tlk PM and DPM are engaging these groups directly as there is a market and demand. By and large, the Chinese had been using their networking and connections for purposes other than purely altruistic. MCA had lost their relevance over the years as a result of Umno and also MCA's own doing. The taboo of reaching out to Malays in the past are slowly forgotten and many are now reaching directly to where the powers maybe.
Like any symbiosis relationship, it will only last where there is a demand and supply. These groups can never replace MCA in terms of political organisations, resources, etc as they are largely dependent on individuals and bussiness personalities and thus lack the continuity of an institution.
rita Such a development would present the astonishing possibility of non-Chinese political leaders representing the community at the highest levels of government. The more cynical would doubt whether such a bold initiative could be sustained. Umno leaders will eventually have to revert to a Chinese political partner if they are to secure lasting support from the electorate. But the Chinese, like all Malaysians, can only benefit from a more aracial political process.
This certainly bodes ill for an MCA that has long been the community's chief political connector. It also bodes ill for the DAP and Gerakan (respectively perceived by the community as a permanent opposition and a regional party respectively), or any other party seeking to expand its political reach by appealing to Chinese sentiment in the country.
Such a development would cut these parties from their moorings, and the MCA, for one, would be rendered not so much ineffective as utterly redundant. What purpose could the party serve if the three most important concerns of the Chinese -- culture, business, and vernacular education -- are addressed through non-political channels?
tlk Is Sin Chew promoting that clans , associations and guilds replace MCA? In the event MCA president is not changed to another that is more friendly and easy with politico-bussiness personalities, MCA will loose their political support and relevance? Will Sin Chew actively and radically promote the abovesaid agenda?
If the above were to happen, the Chinese communities were be politically divided and pawned against one another by Umno as it is a well known fact that Chinese are clannish,insular and selfish by nature. What about the lack of communication and inability to speak the same language, both political and lingual!
rita Here lies another problem: it is a common error to think of the Chinese in Malaysia as an entirely homogeneous mass.
A proposed framework for segmenting the Chinese community is the "G1, G2, and G3" model. The majority can be identified as "G1s". They identify readily with traditional ideas of ethnic Chinese culture, language and expression. This group wholeheartedly supports Chinese media and schools. The existence of Huazong, Dong Zong, and other organisations -- including the MCA -- depends very much on the G1s.
The "G2s" are English-educated Chinese. Predominantly, if not exclusively, middle-class and urban, they identify more with specific civil society issues and are more likely to forge alliances with like-minded individuals or groups (church groups, for example, or Lions or Rotary Clubs) than with any of the traditional Chinese associations.
The "G3s" exist between these two groups in an overlap. G3 Chinese are those who, through language or work, have moved from one group to the other and survived, and perhaps even thrived.
The G2s and G3s are unlikely to associate themselves with any "Chinese" platforms at all, and may move in circles that are markedly multiracial as a factor of class and education. They are unrepresented politically by the MCA, as traditional communal dynamics cannot appeal to them.
MCA, in appealing to the G2s for support, should perhaps bear in mind that its first president, Tun Tan Cheng Lock, was a G2 and rose to prominence at a time when both the Chinese and Malay communities in the country were politically fragmented.
If the Chinese community, in the broadest definition, requires a single political leader as the community's representative in government, perhaps the time has come to look outside traditional power structures to the various Chinese groups and associations, for example, or perhaps even outside the strictly Chinese-speaking community.
Such a move could bring the community as a whole a step closer towards devolving political power to a less communal platform.
Conversely, it could rejuvenate the community's political leadership in spirit that inspired its leaders in the early years of the Alliance -- although any such development would require radical rethinking on the part of the entire community, and especially the MCA.
tlk Finally and lastly the real Rita is speaking. I agree to the above, my friend.
The writer is deputy chairman of Insap, the MCA think-tank. The views expressed here are her own (You have resigned and am now Sin Chew's property are you?)
"He must say it lah... That I, Liow Tiong Lai, want the MCA deputy (president) post...please tell me clearly. I am willing to give up," he said.
"The letter and its contents were read out, debated and voted on at the CC meeting on Nov 3," he explained, adding that the CC made a decision to reinstate him following a ballot.
