Chua should keep his word and quit

ARCHIVES 2013

By admin-s On Oct 19, 2013

If people want him to go, he should do so gracefully, rather than be placing conditions for others to go as well.

Kee Thuan Chye

Chua Soi Lek is being extremely unreasonable in telling his deputy, Liow Tiong Lai, to quit the leadership of the MCA before he himself will step down. And his push for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to overturn the party’s resolution not to take up government positions in light of its poor performance at the last general election (GE13) is a betrayal of his pre-GE13 promise.

On these two issues alone, he has lost all dignity and should just slink into a corner and disappear. He should not be blustering like he is doing in order to try and get things his way. It only makes him appear more and more like a dictator, and an irrational one, to boot.

It is no wonder there are groups within the party campaigning to bring about his downfall. Like the Save Party Committee 3.0 and the ABC (Anything But Chua) movement. The latter was initiated by newly-elected central delegate Lee Hwa Beng, who was summarily sacked from the party last week at a meeting chaired by Chua, clearly to get rid of the latter’s opponents.

If Chua can’t see the writing on the wall, he must be blind or thick-headedly stubborn. If people want him to go, he should do so gracefully, rather than be placing conditions for others to go as well. He shouldn’t be saying, “I am willing to go but Liow must leave with me because he is not the right man to lead the MCA in this challenging political situation.”

Why should Liow step down just because Chua wants him to? Liow has every right to contest for the presidency during the upcoming party elections in December. Who is Chua to tell him he should not?

The reasons Chua cites to support his contention that Liow is “not the right man” are idiosyncratic. Metaphorically speaking, they won’t hold up in a court of law. They reflect his personal opinion, which of course is vulnerable to challenge.

The reasons are that Liow is weak and indecisive, that he is not a fighter, and that he is easily influenced by people outside the party. Others – for example, Liow’s supporters – might say the opposite of him, and who’s to say which side is right?

When it comes to this, the best option then is to let the party delegates decide. It is not for Chua to assume the role of Big Brother and say who should and should not contest, who is fit or not fit to be leader. He can of course express an opinion, but he should not dictate terms.

He contends that the party should be led by younger people. But can he be absolutely sure that these people will not be as unfit as Liow? If he can’t be, then he has no business making assumptions with the hope that they will turn out true.