MCA IN CABINET
Dr Mahathir Mohamad
1. Helen Ang, in an open letter criticised me for welcoming MCA’s decision to rejoin the BN cabinet. She pointed out that the MCA won only 7 seats while DAP won 39 seats. The MCA therefore does not represent the Chinese.
2. The BN is a coalition of like-minded political parties. They may represent their race or they may not. But they believe in the creed of sharing the wealth and the political power of this country between the different races.
3. The DAP does not believe in sharing between the races. It believes in meritocracy – the best takes all, and the devil takes the hindmost.
4. DAP knows that for example on a basis of merit the indigenous people of Malaysia would stand little chance of winning a fair number of the scholarships. This will deny them the opportunity for improving their station in life.
5. Chinese parents can afford to send their children for university education at home and abroad. With Government scholarships largely going to them their numbers would even be bigger. Less number of indigenous people parents cannot afford to support their children for university education.
6. Currently the Chinese dominate the economy and own a large portion of the wealth. Even with the NEP the gap in wealth between Bumis and non-Bumis is very wide. Prior to the NEP, the Bumis who make up the 60% of the people own only 2% of the wealth. Even as Bumis’ wealth grows through NEP schemes, Chinese wealth with a higher base would grow faster. The disparity in wealth ownership would get worse.
7. At the moment the UMNO Malays seem to dominate politics. They are willing to share some political power with the Chinese and Indians. For this they are willing to give up some of their constituencies to their partners and to vote for them. Their political strength balances somewhat their lower economic power.
8. The DAP is bent on seizing political power from UMNO without giving up any economic dominance. It believes that through meritocracy and the split among the Malays it can do this.
