Continuing internal strife will doom MCA

MCA's history may be replete with instances of infighting, especially among its top leadership, but this is something the party can ill afford now, especially with Barisan Nasional at its weakest, writes CHOK SUAT LING.

The Star

AT an MCA appreciation dinner for the media last month, Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek was not among those warbling popular Chinese New Year songs enthusiastically on stage. The party's deputy president was noticeably absent from the long line of central committee members the organiser had invited to showcase their singing talent.

This was seen as a sign — one of many — that things were not as they should be between the president and his deputy.

A grinding dissension has been building between party president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat and his deputy since party elections ended in October last year. And it is clearly not getting any better, despite official pronouncements and overt demonstrations of solidarity.

Dr Chua's supporters are claiming that his sex video is being used to punish him a second time and to derail a bid to petition for an extraordinary general meeting to move a motion of no-confidence against the president.

Ong's loyalists counter that the EGM proposal is a red herring to divert attention from the fallout of the recent oral sex allegations.

All very combustible no doubt, but nothing very new, observers point out. Indeed, disagreements and friction at the top echelons of the MCA have featured throughout the history of the 60-year-old party.

"There have been many instances in the history of the MCA where the Number One and Two did not get along," notes an observer. "The only difference now is that everything is laid out for the public to see and read, thanks to the new media and blogs."

Indeed, relationships between MCA presidents and deputy presidents have not always been rosy, to the extent that there were once calls for the deputy president's post to be abolished.

The differences have largely been due to factionalism and personality clashes. There was the Team A-Team B wrangling during the time of Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik and Tan Sri Lim Ah Lek; and infighting between Dr Ling and Tan Sri Lee Kim Sai.

Tan Sri Lee San Choon, the president from 1975 to 1984, had three deputies — Tan Sri Lee Siok Yew, Tan Sri Michael Chen and Datuk Richard Ho, who all left on an "unpleasant" note — before he handed the reins over to Datuk Dr Neo Yee Pan.

Neo struggled to stamp his authority and spent most of his time doing battle with Tan Koon Swan in the mid-1980s.

Tan's faction was not happy about "phantom members" in the party, among other things. The situation got out of hand with public name-calling, resulting in the party's first EGM.

The then prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, had to instruct Tun Abdul Ghafar Baba, who was the Barisan Nasional secretary-general, to sort out the party's problems.

"This scenario is not unique to the MCA but in Malaysian politics in general," says a party source. "Other political parties — Gerakan, MIC and Umno — are also replete with examples of tension between the Number One and Two in the past.

"It is usually over positions, hardly ever over ideals or party policy."

But this does not mean the discord between Ong and Dr Chua should be allowed to fester. This is something the party can ill afford, especially now when BN is perceived to be at its weakest. The MCA of yore did not have to contend with external threats to its very survival.

"If things stay the same," warns political analyst Professor James Chin, "there will be a crisis soon as there will inevitably be some sort of showdown between the two."

Chin, of Monash University, notes also that time is not on MCA's side, with the next general election due in three years.

"It is likely that Malaysia will still be in a recession or just coming out of it then. The state of the economy is always tied to the way MCA performs in the general election."

Chin says that as both Ong and Dr Chua have strong personalities, it is really a question of who is willing to give way: Ong has to decide if he wants Dr Chua to be his "real Number Two", or have things stay the same.

"If he wants to reach out to Dr Chua, he has to agree to some of his deputy's demands and delegate some powers to him."

But some are of the view that it is hardly proper to expect the president to give way to his deputy. Besides, they say, Dr Chua's personal indiscretions has made him an unacceptable role model.

Negri Sembilan MCA legal bureau chairman Tan Foong Luen says: "The growth of the Internet has made it impossible for leaders to preserve their mystique and aura of dignity from the public.

"Dr Chua's conduct has dishonoured him and he should not expect the president to bend the rules for him. It is untenable for him to expect to hold public office, be it as a senator or in a ministerial post.

"Perseverance may be an admirable trait but not when one is willing to the tear the party apart rather than lose."

Chin, however, feels that most Chinese are more concerned with racial politics and the economic downturn.

"Some also feel that Dr Chua has paid for his mistakes by resigning last year."

Then there are those who think this infighting is the least of the party's present problems. They argue that the problem does not even reside within the MCA: party reforms, they say, are being stymied not so much by internal squabbling as the wider problems of the BN and its leading partner.

"Umno is not reforming and MCA cannot move forward unless it does," says Chin. "That is the dilemma."