Empty vessels make the most noise
MCA leaders are gutless con artists pandering to the demands of Umno just to ensure that they still get a slice of the pie.
When you have dissenting voices within a coalition, this is normal and healthy as a form of public debate. Throughout this entire episode, not once did the DAP say that it would abandon Pakatan Rakyat. Wee represents a party which has no say, so expressing its own views on national issues is an alien concept.
Douglas Tan, Free Malaysia Today
Remember the adage: silence is golden? I’m sure many parents have taught their children that if you do not have anything nice to say, you should keep quiet.
However in politics these days, we have mud-slinging from both sides of the political divide.
It appears that the less relevant you have become, the more you have to shout at the top of your lungs.
For the MCA, it is able to see that it is fast disappearing off the political scene just like Gerakan.
The party has been criticised over the years for being gutless and pandering to the demands of Umno, just to ensure that it still gets a slice of the pie.
It arrogates to itself the divine duty of representing and fighting for Chinese interests in Malaysia. Are we still under the illusion that we need elected representatives of the same ethnicity?
If Barisan Nasional component parties still believe this after having the “1Malaysia” concept shoved down their throats and pinned on their lapels, it quickly becomes clear that they are only interested in serving themselves.
The Malaysian Chinese diaspora in Malaysia is made up of clans which include the Hokkien, Cantonese, Hainanese, Hakka, Foochow, Teochew, among others. From the beginning, they settled in this country and worked hard to get to where they are today.
What has the community asked for? Just freedom to do business, educate their children well and be allowed to live and prosper.
However, even going back to the days when Umno pushed forward the NEP (New Economic Policy), did the MCA speak up at all?
Bashing the DAP
Nowadays, the MCA has resorted to attacking the DAP at every opportunity it gets.
Not a day goes by without Dr Chua Soi Lek or Wee Ka Siong making a press statement in The Star and the Chinese language press about the “shortcomings” of the DAP, with their favourite targets being Lim Guan Eng, Lim Kit Siang and Karpal Singh.
Kit Siang and Karpal Singh have been a constant thorn in the side of the MCA. Due to the consistency of the DAP as both a party and a state government, the MCA has struggled to find issues to harp on. So it brings up old issues or flogs dead ones.
Wee has just hit out at Karpal, after the latter expressed his support for Anwar Ibrahim to be the next prime minister.
Going back to the Sept 16, 2008 fiasco, Karpal was not impressed that Anwar wanted to form a government with frogs coming over from the Barisan Nasional. This issue has been long resolved as the event has already taken place.
When you have dissenting voices within a coalition, this is normal and healthy as a form of public debate. Throughout this entire episode, not once did the DAP say that it would abandon Pakatan Rakyat. Wee represents a party which has no say, so expressing its own views on national issues is an alien concept.
Hudud again?
Not stopping there, Wee then continues to flog the hudud horse and how it would infringe on the rights of non-Muslims.
After discussing the matter with several Malay friends and colleagues, it is clear that the principle of hudud is seriously misunderstood.
The MCA is guilty of propagating misinformation in order to make its position look better.
Although opposition parties are not immune from doing this, at the very least the MCA could be creative about it, apart from its “No to Hudud” and “No to DAP” campaign.
The DAP and PAS have already reached a consensus about the issue. Constitutionally, it has been clearly established that hudud cannot be implemented.
Despite this, the debate rages on, fuelled by the irresponsibility of BN component parties, especially the MCA, to spook the non-Muslim community.
