The way to rescue MCA is to…

 

 

 

 

(Final part) Once the red dust of battle has settled after the party polls on Sunday, to the victor goes the tragedies of office and power.

It is indeed the case of “twas the best of times… it was the winter of despair, it was the spring of hope”.

Chinese history has it that when a strong dynasty falls, it will be followed by a period of chaos wrought by weak warlords before a new order arises. For the new order to arise, there must exists strong men, battle-scarred and war-weary, whose very sinews are tested and taut, who are determined to bring their people to a new promised land, in the words of Chinese philosopher Mencius.

The new president, whoever he is, must rapidly make gestures of magnanimity to heal war wounds; not to appease the vanquished but to send a message to the community that he has a larger-than-life agenda and that agenda is going to be his all-consuming passion.

Hence, he won’t be distracted by continuing small vendettas that is the trademark of small men.

He must within two weeks announce his new team, and their clear objectives publicised, which include:

* Winning the support of Malaysians in general;

* Searching for new relevance in serving the Chinese community now that the ancient raison d’ etre of the ancient MCA is gone — getting citizenship, new villages problems, etc;

* Successfully defending its 15 seats in the coming general election and winning at least 30 seats in the elections after that in Chinese-majority areas;

* Using the party’s wealth to energise the rebuilding;

* Publishing a code of ethics under which all party leaders must operate; and

* Reviewing the party’s present role in government.

Now that is the easy rhetoric part. Any PR firm worth their salt will know how to come up with noble-sounding vision statements.

The new leader must make up his mind and aim clearly — to be party president for as long as possible or to be a minister as long as possible, or to be a truly enlightened leader working wholeheartedly to rebuild the party for the next generation.

He must also make it clear if he wants to continue to please and placate his BN taikos as is commonly perceived or to do the right thing for the people.

Let us say, for the sake of dramatic heroism, that the new leader tells himself he is setting out to be the greatest Chinese community leader since Sun Yat Sen, that he will reinvent the MCA for the greater good.

In that case, his roadmap to revival almost certainly needs to revolve around several significant moves.

He must be able to think brave and think bold. He must deliberately break down the old party dogma, change its emblem, anthem, flag, uniform, and open the party to a new youthful energy.

Objections will come from old and greying men, but they are not the ones inheriting the new changing world.

He must open the party up to any Malaysians. Communal politics is passe and fighting for purely race-based causes is now not acceptable unless one believes in Perkasa.

The new party under the new leader must call itself a Chinese-based but multi-racial political party; its agenda is pursuing positive and beneficial change for the sake of posterity.

The new leader would earn huge points and valuable breathing space if he declares that he will decline a Cabinet post and focus on rebuilding the party; after all, it is almost universally accepted that all MCA leaders are crazy for positions.

The new leader must then follow it up by inviting one or two squeaky clean professionals (not necessarily party men) to take on, perhaps, a minister’s or deputy minister’s post. The instant connection to the Singapore model may just convince a still cynical community to open up their minds.

He must also set modest goals for the next general election. The focus must be on deep structural transformation; such makeovers will need reasonable time. The key is to manage expectations and build for future generations.

At the same time, he must be bold to use the massive wealth of the MCA to be the catalyst for change. No party needs a billion in assets to survive; the MCA needs to rid itself of its siege mentality, that it needs to hoard that kind of wealth.

Is the party a social welfare or massive charity or worse still, an investment fund to protect and benefit its office-holders? Set aside, say, RM300 million in trusts so that the party is never in want, and start using the remainder over the next five to eight years to rebuild.

Finally, the new president must withdraw from the Barisan Nasional in the name of soul-searching and rebuilding.

This need not be confrontational; the party can, if its delegates decide, continue to support Barisan policies and be BN-friendly. This is the one move that will open up the hearts and minds of the community towards the makeover efforts of the party; the elephant around the MCA’s neck has always been the perception of its leaders being subservient to Umno.

Can the MCA be truly re-invented and recapture its former market share of the votes?

Anything is possible: but only with a total change in mindset of its leaders, and a tenacious willingness to think and act out-of-the-box. And that is anything but easy.