Can MCA Party revive

Can MCA party leaders able to revitalize the party satisfactorily and regain some position in the coming 14^th.General Election? Can MCA able to find opportunity under the present confusing state of event to regain support from the people especially the Malaysian Chinese community in the coming 14^th.General Election? The coming 14^th.General Election is just a few years ahead and not too long to wait. My answer is yes, provided its leaders play the right card.

Every dark cloud has a silver lining. The present confusing state of events happening to our beloved country started with the disappearance of MH370. Tedious and expensive investigations were conducted and until now there is no satisfactory conclusion.

Then the disaster of MH17 came. MH17 was shot down while flying over Ukraine air space. The Ukraine government or the Russian backed rebels who are presently at war with each other, category denied responsibility for this act and our government has no headway to the investigation.

The political upheaval created in Selangor. The Mentri Besar of Selangor who is a member of PKR was sacked from membership by his own party for failing to abide to party instruction. Even though lost of PKR membership he refused to step down abruptly and to vacate the post of Mentri Besar until a proper replacement is being accepted by the HRH the Sultan of Selangor. At present the replacement is yet to be agreed by the component parties especially party PAS. 

The impending break-up of PR is hot in the air. PAS being a partner to PR refused to abide to the decision of PKR of replacing the current Mentri Besar. The refusal if not reversed, may lead to the break-up leaving PKR and DAP to carryon in the PR.

The impending implementation of the unpopular Goods and Services Tax (GST) The implementation of this tax next year 2015 will create many job opportunity to the young graduates but it will be very unpopular to the public and the small business establishments at large. The public believe the extra 6% tax escalated at least three times for goods and services is too high and the need of the small business establishments to employ the extra hand to cater for the maintenance of the account of this tax will eventually cause hardship to them. 

With all these happenings I believe if one really pays attention to them, and able to solve their adverse impact then it would change the fortune of the party. This is the time MCA must show they can perform and deliver not empty talks

Y.B. Chew Mei Fun direct approach with NGOs ( Wanita )

BRAVO to YB Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun, the current Assistant Minister of Women Welfare.

BRAVO to her new direct approach in rallying the support of the women folks in Penang state and getting first hand information from them with the view to understand their needs and expectations.

Direct approach, by way of meeting face to face with the targeted group rather than getting feedbacks from proxies or third parties is something new. In my opinion this course of action is praise worthy. Those who have the chance of meeting her face to face and a chance to hear directly from her can evaluate for themselves how sincere and how good she is. This could be the best approach for her to gain support for herself in the coming 14^th.General Election.

She, on 26 July, 2014 did a direct approach dialog with the women representatives from quite a number of NGOs in Penang at Eastin Hotel Bayan Baru. The dialog session was very impressive. She enlightened the women folks with the latest information on how best her ministry had been trying to assist those in need of help but unfortunately the head way was slow and ineffective. He threw open to any progressive, sincere women leader to take up the challenge to initiate meaningful programs to help the needy and she will approve fund for such projects. Any women leader can at any time approach her 3 recently appointed secretaries for help. She also informed the participants that in the future she will inform those who had registered themselves earlier and especially those who were present in this dialog session, directly of any future activities that they should know and not through any so called leaders who often failed to pass the message onwards.

Although the number of representative was not much, approximately about 100persons from about 24 NGOs yet it had created a good impact. In my opinion if such meaningful dialog can be conducted regularly I am sure there will be more participants.

Dr. Chan 26.07.14

Result of the Bukit Gelugor By-election

Result of the Bukit Gelugor By-election held on 25.05.14 has more to tell

The result of the By-election was announced by the Chairman of the Election Commission at 9.05 pm after the closing of the voting at5.00pm.

Candidate Ramkarpal of the DAP won the Bukit Gelugor Parliamentary seat. He scored 41,242 votes which was approximately 88% of the total 46,999 votes casted. He obtained the majority of 37,659 votes. This showed the constituents preferred him to the others.

The rest of the contestants (1) Huan from Party Cinta managed to gather 3,583 votes. (2) Mohd Nabi, the independent managed to receive 799 votes and (3) Abu Backer another independent managed to receive 225 votes. All of them could not even gather 1/8% of the total votes. All their deposits given to secure a place to contest were confiscated by the Election Commission.

The turnout of voters was surprisingly low, only about 56.4 %. The Election Commission expected a 70% turnout. Those who turnout were mainly from the older generation whereas those who failed to turnout were from the young generation. According to the Election Commission, it was estimated that 37% of the total 82,431 registered voters between 21 years and 39 years had not voted.

This is rather surprising. At campaigning sessions we observed scores of youngsters rather than the elders were around listening to the speakers but they absented themselves on the day of voting. What could have been the cause? This low turnout phenomenon needs to be looked into seriously. Just to dismiss this matter believing they took it easy because they had already known who the winner was may not be entirely right.    

Dr. Chan          

Malaysians are in a Dilemma

Malaysians are in a ‘Dilemma’

Of late, Malaysia seemed to be plagued by the burning issue of attempting to replace the long standing penal law with the Islamic penal law, the Hudud. Majority of the population non-Muslim and Muslim alike feared that eventually, beginning from the state of Kelantan, other states sooner or later will follow suit and eventually the whole country will adopt the Hudud. With that Malaysia will be noted as an Islamic state. By the by the Democratic system will be automatically unimportant. The Federal Constitution guaranteeing the secular status Malaysia is no more. The question is, with the Islamic state status what will the future of the country be? Of course, no one can say for sure what will Malaysia be but we can still predict the out-come by looking at what had happened to the Middle East countries and of our neighbor Brunei. Brunei has very recently, about a week ago, declared the implementation of Hudud for the country. It shocked the world. The world reaction to this could be said was unfavorable. A certain group of people, formally the supporters of Sultan, withdrew their support and in addition advocated a boycott to all his businesses. In fact, the economy of the Sultan is the economy of the country. To what extend the economy of Brunei will be affected it is left to be seen.

What actually is Hudud? Yes, it is Islamic penal law. But why is it feared? My understanding is that the uneven implementation of punishment is the cause of the fear.

Offences classified as criminal offenses are: (1) Absence from Friday prayer services

                                                                               (2) Becoming pregnant out of wedlock

                                                                               (3) Wearing indecent clothing and for women refusal to         wear a hijab

                                                                               (4) Employing a non-Muslim babysitter

                                                                               (5) The use of the word “Allah” by Christians and the discussion of faith by any non-Muslims

                                                                               (6) Publicly eating and drinking during Ramadan

                                                                               (7) Theft

                                                                               (8) Homosexuality and

                                                                               (9) Adultery

Punishment is imposed to the offender according to his station in life. The same offence committed punishment can be at different levels.  The range of punishment can be from the lightest, this is a fine and to the heaviest, that is stoning to death. In between, there are jail sentence, amputation of limbs and public flogging, all depending who you are or whom you know. 

Judging from the above criminal offences and punishments for them may I ask, can the present modern society whether Muslims or non-Muslims agree and accept them?

Again you may question, where are the Muslim intellectuals? Why are they silent about this issue?

Dr. Chan    15.05.2014

Food for thoughts

My afterthought after reading the comment of Professor James Chin and the comment of Khoo Kay Peng on the decision of MCA not to take part in the coming 25^th.May 2014 Bukit Gelugor By-election.

Professor James Chin saw the decision of MCA not participating in the By-election was the correct move. To him it would be a waste of resources and sacrifice of good leader knowing full-well it would be a lost contest. Could it be said he was prudent?

Whereas Khoo Kay Peng saw it as a lost of a good opportunity to grill DAP on the issue of Huddud (Islamic penal law) regardless of the outcome of the By-election. Could it be said he was fool-hardy?

 Ong Kar Chuan, the Secretary-General of MCA came out with the reason that the Party is concentrating in opposing the issue of impending implementation of Huddud (Islamic penal law) and the party could not be bothered with the Bukit Gelugor By-Election. Could this be a good reason?

From the comments of these intellects it would appear to me our Malaysian Chinese intellects are lacking far behind in wise thinking. They may be literate and having a style but without actual substance.

Dr. Chan

Bukit Gelugor By-Election

The late YB Karpal Singh was a lawyer by profession, Chairman of a political party, DAP and also a member of Malaysian Parliament.

In the early hour of Thursday the 17^th.April, 2014 while on his way back from Kuala Lumpur to Penang on the North/South Express way his chauffer driven car collided with a moving lorry at the stretch near Gua Tempurong, in the state of Perak. It was a nasty fatal accident He died on the spot.

The Election Commission on April 24^th. 2014 announced that a By-election had been decided to replace the late YB Karpal.  It was decided that nomination date will be on May 12^th. 2014 and polling day will be on May 25^th. 2014. The early voting date will be on May 21^st. 2014.

Statically, Bukit Gelugor Parliamentary constituency has 82,431 registered voters. 74.5% are Chinese, At the last General election, May 2013, the late YB Karpal scored 41,778 Majority over Teh Beng Yeam from the MCA.

DAP now needs to carefully select one suitable person to replace him in the coming By-election, even though it is a foregone conclusion that any person picked to contest from the DAP ticket will surely win. This conclusion is mainly based on the past election statistic and as well as from the sentiment of the people who showed up at the funeral of the late YB Karpal.

A wrong selection of candidate will bring a bad image to the party and may even jeopardize future elections.

If you care to reflect on the present situation, a situation from the time the DAP took power till now it would appear visible incompetency of the government to govern properly is showing. Incompetency has shown up here and there.

For examples, street lights at important stretch of roads were not on at the right time. It appeared no one to supervise the correct timing of switching on the street lights. That was why traffic accidents were on the rise. Open drains at Taman were not swept properly. It seemed there was no supervisor to see the workers did their duties properly. Workers after reported their attendance, took up their tools, carried out their duties half-heartedly for a short period of time and then they grouped together to chit chat until the time was up and they left calling it a day. The clog-up drains could be the cause for the increase of dengue case. Health Department had reported that already about 30,000 cases of dengue cases treated and it had caused 60 deaths.  Public lavatories and public wash basins especially at public markets were filthy and water either leaking from taps or taps not workable. What had happened to the market inspectors? All these appeared to be small matters but they created an impression of incompetency to govern.

Strangely, out of nowhere the hurriedly formed Penang Action Party (PAP) which is yet to be registered with the Registrar of Societies came into picture.

The Chairman of the PAP, Dato Go Chui Tiong (believed to be a member of the MCA) through his spokesman Saw Chong Tatt, he declared the party is Barisan Nassional friendly. He further declared the party has 2000 members. It has the support of 44 Chinese NGOs from Penang. The objective of the party is to ensure Penang state is to be governed by local Penang born and not outsiders. Let us see how this fly by night party will fair. I believe it will fade out soon after the By-election.

MCA has learned a lesson by entering the Kajang By-election and lost. Refraining from competing in this BY-election is a right move.

Dr. Chan      

Analysis of Kajang By-election

A rough analysis of Kajang By-election on 23.3.14 :

It was a fight between the PR and BN only, and it was represented by Dr. Wan Azizah binti Wan Ismail of the Keadilan and Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun of the MCA. The result was Dr. Wan Azizah binti Wan Ismail of the Keadilan won.

On the basis of Party, in my opinion, it was obvious PR had slightly improved its popularity, making inroad into the BN strong- hold and had also improved the overall popularity vote by 1.6 % since the previous election (58.0% to 59.6%)

The gaining of a few extra votes, in BN traditional held areas no doubt looked insignificant in comparing with the previous election yet it showed the popularity of the PR had gained ground.

The reduction of majority vote of the PR as popularized by the presses cannot be considered as accurate as there was correspondingly decrease of voters who came out to vote. This reduction was expected. We had only 72% of the voters who came out to vote whereas previously in May 5, 2013, we had 88% of the voters who came out to vote. (Total turnout 28314 and represented 72% and 34290 represented 88%)

The missing voters could be classified under the following categories:

(a)           Those who work out-station and found it difficult to return to vote. Majority of these could be long distance out-station workers and could not get leave.

(b)           Those who think an extra vote was not necessary as it was a foregone conclusion PR would win. Under this category it could be from any group.

(c)             Those on polling day had left the country for holidays or in business. Under this category it could be from the business group.

(d)           Those for some unknown reason, refused to vote. This was an insignificant group, but it did add up to the figure of absentee.

 

Detail are: PKR netted 16,741 votes

                           BN netted 11362 votes

                           Majority 5379 votes

                       PKR 59.5% of the votes

The overall result of the By- election showed that BN had slightly lost in the Malay area. That indicated the strategy applied did not suit them. On the other hand BN had made some gain in the Chinese area. Maybe the strategy applied might have some impact on them.

My opinion: A total new strategy that could be accepted by the voters is needed for the next contest in order to win. With the present strategy I am afraid it may not work out well.

Dr. Chan

Chan Swee,s Comment On Kajang By-Election.

Without doubt at the present scenario BN / UMNO is totally  playing the Ketuanan Melayu  strategy against the Pakatan Rakyat multi-racial approach.They are being cornered at their own game by their arrogance after the GE 2004. Wholesale corruption,abuse of power ,utter disregard for the law , greed and total  insensitive of the non-Malay sentiments is the result.At the present moment Pakatan Rakyat is doing the right thing emphasizing on the price increases which affect everyone.The Pakatan Rakyat leadership is very united in their approach with a little disagreements at the grassroots level. Everyone is able to read the game with the help of the Internet.We can weigh all the information and opinions from all sides and be able to judge them.To me ,MCA is between the devil and the deep blue sea,to go for it or not  makes no difference, the result will be the same.To go for it , it shows  MCA is still a force to be reckoned with.Not going for it shows the death of MCA.

James Lim's Comment on Kajang By-Election

Dr. Chan had specifically stated the possible reasons why Mr. Lee Chin cheh has galantly vacated his seat in Kajang for Datuk Seri Anwar. Whatever the reasons, it was done in good faith and good intent.

Though the Kajang constituency was initially designated for MCA, and you can now realize that most component parties not to mention UMNO have conveniently and generously proposed that the candidate should come from MCA without any whims and avarice.

As Dr. Chan blatantly puts it in the most appropriate manner-  ' Kamikaze to whoever nominated '

Definitely, MCA should be now wise and prudent enough to be strategic not to accept the honour of choice especially when MCA is at its lowest ebb and at its weakest point. It will be another Doomsday .

MCA should now be concentrating with focus on how to restructure and reorganize its precarious position rather than being manipulated again.

Besides ' Kajang Constituency ' will be the battle ground for the titans and it will take another Umnoputra to see it through and not MCA.

From James

Dr.Chan's Comment On Kajang By-Election

Kajang By- election scheduled to be held on 23^rd.Mar 2014

A By-election for the Selangor state Kajang constituency shall be held on 23^rd.Mar 2014 as directed by the Election Commission.

Mr. Lee Chin Cheh from the PKR, the elected assembly representative, on 27^th. Jan 2014 abruptly resigned without giving any reason. According to the law, his vacant seat would be filled by another person by way of a By-election within 60 days from the day the speaker of the assembly made the announcement of the resignation. Thus, this By-election was ordered.

Kajang constituency has a total of 39,278 voters. This includes the newly registered voters. Nomination day was fixed to be on 11^th. Mar. 2014. Early voting was fixed to be on 19^th.Mar.2014 for the 1,197 early voters. 

Upon the announcement of the resignation of Mr. Lee Chin Cheh by the Speaker of the state Assembly,   Datuk Seri Anwar was the first person to declare himself as a candidate to the By-election. Since then he had invited numerous comments and speculations from various quarters, of his move. The opposite camp, of cause, did not fail to discredit him in any way possible by painting a black picture of him. His move could be said has created a political storm of the day.

By this By-election he has also created an opportunity for himself to disseminate to the public effectively the news of mismanagement of the UMNO government. The inability of the government to control the raising prices of basic daily food- staffs, the run- away prices of goods and services, the looming threat of tax increase by way of the impending implementation of the General Service Tax (GST) and a host of other unpopular taxes, soon to be implemented are of everyone concern.

On the other hand the By-election has given Datuk Seri Anwar a chance to make known his ideas as to how to over-come the mismanagement of the UMNO government. How the public would benefit from his fair policies. He is in fact offering to the people a choice for the alternative.

Normally we would hear reasonable comments or reasonable rebuttals from politicians but it pained me to observe that most of the comments were personal attacks which to me were merely gossips, not worth listening to. A few high powered politicians who dislike Datuk Seri Anwar went as low as casting aspersions or making insinuating remarks on his ability to hold high office. To me this amounted to pure character assassination and this is rather unfair. Why should he suffer such a vicious attack? After all he is trying to serve the country and its people. So far all the reasons put forward against him were pure speculations and unfounded.

The actual reason for the By-election could be many. I would say only Mr. Lee and Datuk Seri Anwar know the truth as to why this By-election was created. Unfortunately, Datuk and Mr. Lee felt it was best to keep the real reason a secret. They have the rights to do so. I see no reason why some leaders of NGOs demanded from him to reveal the true reason for the By-election. Was it they themselves wanted to know or the public wanted to know? The answer is crystal clear if one really understands the present political situation.  

Datuk Seri Anwar, when he was asked, only stated that his act is to fortify the state from the political onslaught of UMNO and to use Selangor as a base to get nearer to Putrajaya.  In my opinion, this is partly true. My feeling is that PKR at present without doubt is under severe political attack by UMNO. His presence is needed to repel the onslaught.

By-election is one of the effective ways to defense and to repel the enemy. A number of its important grass roots leaders and those now holding legislative positions in the government are showing sign of discontentment and that may lead to disloyalty to the Party. Under such circumstances they may jump ship. There is a danger to the Party. Datuk Seri Anwar needs to address this problem fast otherwise the problem will escalate leading to the disintegration of the Party.PKR needs a strong base where by a strong finance is generated to sustain the functioning of the party just like any of its partners. DAP has the base in Penang. PAS has a base in Kelantan.

He has to start cleaning up the Party in preparation for the coming 14^th.General Election. This could be the beginning. If my assessment is correct I believe you may see more action of him to come.

If MCA is given the mandate to produce a candidate to this By-election, I consider him as a kamikaze. In the last election (2013) the MCA candidate managed to garner 12,747 out of 38965 votes, lost by a vast majority of 6,824 votes in the 6 corner fight. With this record the chances of a win is very remote.

One must accept the fact that the Party has just able to stabilize its leadership but yet to improve its organization weakness. The confidence of the public to the Party has not been earned. It is not the time to go for battle. Why can’t the Party leaders be more prudent? Reorganize and rebuilt and do battle later. The result of this by election is forgone conclusion. Let others do the battle. Even UMNO had conceded defeat.

What will Penang MCA Position Be In The Coming 14th GE

What will Penang MCA position be in the coming 14^th.General Election?

I am not a soothsayer. In fact, if you ask any ordinary Penang guy, he will tell you what will be the out-come. If he is diplomatic enough he will answer, “Status quo”. If not, his answer will be “another egg (zero) for another term”.

I am inclined to agree to his view. But, looking at the line-up of the state liaison committee it gave me a ray of hope that there could be improvement. There will be a possibility of the Party winning back a few seats if the right strategy is adopted. The present situation is not totally irreversible.

The Chairperson, she appeared to me is someone who knows what to do. She had shown her daring by keeping the obsolete warlords out of key posts and placed them in the unimportant honorary posts. Her courageous act is to be admired. This could be a part of the game plan to reorganize the Party to begin with.

The Party needs to develop a strong effective image, an image which is capable of daring to voice out, to correct any wrong doing or any unfairness in the policies of the government which affect the public. At the same time, the Party must create an effective avenue where the people can go to request for help. The creating an array of Bureaus headed by capable grass roots leaders to spear head the recovery of a strong effective image of the Party is right. 

Fortunately, there is amble time, approximately four years for the Party as from now to carry out the reformation task. If the Chairperson is resourceful and capable enough to monitor the Bureaus well, then there may be a chance to achieve the aim.

At present, the image of Penang MCA has gone to the dog. To many it is at the critical stage of disintegration. To me there is a ray of hope to nurse it back. The organization structure is still intact but only need is to be up-graded.  There is an urgent need to search for more honest, capable, motivated and trust-worthy grass roots leaders. Without them I am afraid the reformation of the Party is just a dream.

Bear this in mind. In this era, an era of economy, any motivation without substantial incentives will not produce the desired effect. Therefore, grass roots leaders without reasonable incentives will not work diligently to achieve the desired result.

If leaders fail to take note of the above points I am afraid the Party may go for another period of hibernation.

Dr. Chan      28.01.14

Self interest over rides ethical behavior

Self interest over rides ethical behavior ( This is madness ).
                                                                                                          

 “ Soi Lek: Liow broke deal has no credibility” The report from Malaysiankini dated 16.1.14  really startled me. I was wondering, how could Soi Lek, a past President publicly condemned Tiong Lai, the present President as a person of no credibility. He had a hand in the game in getting Tiong Lai winning the Presidency. What Soi Lek is doing now is creating a very bad image to the Party. The Party may be destroyed by his mad act. In fact he needs to be disciplined.  

It makes me wonder. Was Soi Lek under duress (force) by someone then when he supported Liow?        Or was he really looking into the interest of his team members, ensuring them to be appointed into important positions in the Party regardless of their suitability? Or was he in actual fact looking into the interest of his son? What was the Peace Plan really for?

Recounting what had taken place, I feel Soi Lek by his Peace Plan had done more harm to the Party than strengthening it. Look at the Peace Plan. He wanted a contest at the Presidential level. He even sacrificed Mr. Gan by using him as a pawn to draw votes away from Ong Tee Keat. This was just to ensure Liow would win. At the Deputy level he even sacrificed Lim to ensure Lim had no chance to fight for the Vice Chairman post. He wanted no contest in the Vice Chairman post and the Committee post. He placed his son in the Vice Chairman level.  It is to ensure his son win the Vice Chairman post and be appointed into whatever position negotiated for. Now the Peace Plan had turned awry. It is expected to be. How can the President accommodate all the demand of Soi Lek. It seemed the President had even gone out of his way by appointing double deputy chairman in four states to accommodate his request. This is against the Party Constitution. His son was appointed as Chairman of the Perlis State Liaison Committee and which post was not negotiated for. To Soi Lek this was a betrayal. He was very much agitated and lost his cool. He is now revealing his true character.  

Mr. President, members hope you should stand firm and use the Party Constitution to guide you. MCA belongs to all members and not to a few who happened to be given the mandate to lead.

Personal agreement on matters affecting the Party made between leaders cannot over ride Party Constitution. Should there is a need, a properly elected committee or an appointed committee must be formed to deal with the issues. Any fundamental change to the structure of the Constitution a Referendum or a General Meeting needs to be held to get the mandate from the members to change. Creating extra positions such as creating extra Deputy Chairman of State Liaison Committee just to accommodate the personal agreement which termed as Peace Plan is incorrect.

Dr. Chan       17.01.14

Factionalism Persists In MCA

Factionalism persists in MCA

May I refer to the article dated 7^th.Jan2014 appearing at the FMT news, “Factionalism persists in MCA” written by Stanley Koh, the former head of MCA research unit, now the FMT columnist. 

Stanley Koh was right in drawing the attention of readers to the fact that factions still persists in MCA. I would say it is a fact that all organizations whether political or non political do have factions. It is up to the wisdom of the leadership to minimize the adverse effect fermented by the various factions and convert the adverse effect to the advantage of the organization. Should the leadership is able to exercise such wisdom I am sure the public will look at the organization with respect and place their hope of their future in it. Bringing up the fact that there are factions is admirable, showing braveness but, without suggesting any advice that may be useful to the leadership to cure the disease looks hollow. It may infer the writer is not writing with the intention of bettering the organization, but as a voice that supports a faction.

In my opinion factions in the MCA were made worse by the so called Peace Plan. The opinion of the public was that there was no actual democratic selection of leadership at all. The selection was predetermined. The voting was directed. Most of the honest and capable were excluded by way of manipulation from those who called the shot.

Further down the line, there were appointments to posts where same old faces from both sides surfaced. They were appointed under the Peace Plan. In the eyes of the public they were considered dead wood and not worthy at all to lead, except enriching themselves. Already there were adverse comments of the recent line-up of the Wanita wing from senior members. I am sure the public and members are very interested in the rest of the line-ups. This is a crucial stage to the organization. The leadership must be honest in action. Appoint those who are clean and capable to hold positions. The leadership must be brave enough to correct mistakes quickly should there were mistakes made.

MCA must change its perception. It must be seen as an organization free from control from any quarters. Leaders must be honest and capable, honest in their actions and capable in swaying government policies to meet the level of fairness, thus, save- guarding the interest and survival of the Malaysian Chinese community.

If this dream is achieved I am sure MCA will be relevant again to the Malaysian Chinese community.

MCA Wanita- "Wong Fei Hung" ( Close-Shop )

MCA Wanita at Federal Level-“Wong Fei Hung”

The national wanita line-up as announced by the Chairperson had drawn shattering shameful response from the wanita branch leaders and senior wanita members. Majority said, after seeing the wanita national line-up, we were of the opinion that those newly appointed to various important posts were in fact the same people who had never proven anything worth mentioning. It was like changing the soup without changing the recipe.

They further said, to make things worse, there were some public known tainted characters were even appointed to important position. It was equated as putting monkey to take care of bananas.

With such a perception from the party’s own members, you can conclude what will be to the wanita as from now?

Comment from WK Chan

Sent from Windows Mail

The present political scenario  does not seem to indicate any optimistic sign for Malaysian Chinese to enjoy the legitimate  rights and positions as before when the country first achieved independence. As times went on the MCA leaders due to their incapability and incompetency failed to safeguard them.

The embattled Malaysian Chinese lost heart and discarded the MCA as irrelevant They rooted for DAP as they believed DAP could salvage back their legitimate rights and positions The results of the last elections already showed this trend.

It is hoped that the newly elected MCA leaders can work towards regaining those legitimate rights and positions and get back the confidence and support of the Malaysian Chinese. Only then MCA leaders are  able to raise their heads high with dignity and pride as true partner in BN to work towards the progress of the country as MCA is the second biggest component party in BN. As true partners MCA and UMNO should both value the symbiotic existence at all times  for the benefits and progress of the nation

Dr.Chan comments on MCA Penang State line up.

Will MCA in Penang state be able to crack the egg in the 14^th.General Election? I think your answer is as good as mine. It all depends on how the party reorganizes and plays the correct cards.

Many had been wondering and viewed this question with uncertain answers. Some believed, the present adverse perception of the party is partly the wish of heaven. Yet others have a different view to it. Majority see it as self- created. They contributed it to bad leadership. Leaders do not have the courage to voice out wrong doings within and without and dare not correct wrong doings. Thus, creating a strong suspicion and believe that the party is been controlled and manipulated by an unseen hand behind the screen.  Insincere, gutless, self- interested leaders are more to blame. It seemed the unseen hand all these years had a strong grip of the party to ensure obedience, loyalty and to echo what were wanted to echo. Now, to break this strong grip and to alter the present adverse perception of the party to a better one, it will be quite a task. The party needs brave, honest, and capable leaders to lead. The party also needs a great purge. Dead wood, defeated candidates in General Election, tainted characters, those who secured their party positions through questionable manipulation and those educationally unqualified must be put aside. Appoint those who are honest, brave and educationally qualified to do the job. There are ample of them and I am sure if they are invited and given the right incentive they will gladly accept the invitation for they have been hibernating for quite some years, ignored and unrecognized. 

Under the present rejection circumstances, it is of natural consequence that the party which claims to represent and protect the Malaysian Chinese community and their interest, yet could not perform its task, be rejected and condemned. The sad part is that even the Prime Minister condemned, threatened, and made fun of the party in the party annual general meeting of late. I am not repeating those words that the Prime Minister uttered. I am ashamed to do so.

The leadership line-up as well as revealing the task ahead by the newly elected President, Dato Seri Leow Tiong Lai on the 2^nd.Jan 2014 appeared to me the leadership is now earnestly trying to reorganize the party to be in a better state and acceptable to the Malaysian Chinese community at large.

Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun, one of the Vice Presidents was appointed as the Chairperson of the MCA Penang State Liaison Committee. It will be her duty to select her team to achieve this goal. If she is able to play her cards correctly there is a ray of hope that the Party may recapture a few seats in the coming 14^th General Election.  

Dr. Chan         03.01.2014