If MCA is not a subsidiary of Umno, why should the MCA president bring his purported letter (of resignation from his party) when he went to see Umno president cum Prime Minister in the first instance?

This was exactly what happened when Chua Soi Lek held a meeting with premier Najib Razak on yesterday morning (March 15). Chua told reporters that he took along his resignation letter with the intention to submit his immediate resignation as MCA president if an outstanding problem faced by Chinese independent school graduates could not be resolved.

The issue pertains to the entry requirement to teachers’ training college and came to a head when the Education ministry advertised on its website on Monday that Chinese school graduates may apply for admission provided they possess four credit passes in the SPM. 

This stipulation alarmed the Chinese community which had earlier been assured by the MCA President that the United Examination Certificate (UEC) held by the Chinese school graduates was also acceptable for admission. The condition was that the students possessed at least four credits which should include one subject of Bahasa Malaysia from SPM.

The Education ministry latest announcement, which ran contrary to Chua’s declaration, was therefore a slap on the face of Chua Soi Lek.

Negotiating ‘concessions’ with Najib

To redeem his credibility, Chua took a high-powered team to meet Najib. Apart from MCA deputy president Liow Tiong Lai (Health minister), party vice president Ng Yen Yen (Tourism minister) and Youth chief Wee Ka Siong (deputy Education minister) also tagged along.

Emerging from the meeting with Najib, Chua said he was pleased that the prime minister had promptly clarified that four UEC subject credits and one SPM credit in Bahasa Malaysia were sufficient qualification for these graduates to enter teaching colleges.

Chua also disclosed that he, together with Wee Ka Siong (who also brought along his resignation letter), would have immediately resigned as MCA president and deputy education minister respectively, if Najib were to renege on the earlier promise to accept the UEC for entry to the colleges. 

He added that Najib’s assurance was so prompt that they didn’t need to inform him about their resignation letters after all.
Following the meeting, Najib immediately instructed the Education ministry head to discuss with Wee to work out the details, according to Chua.

Chua might have taken some pride in making his statement to reporters which implied that he had fought and won ‘concessions’ for his community – for which he had prepared to make the greatest personal sacrifice, the presidency of the party. But in reality, this incident laid bare once again MCA’s servile existence under Umno, and how the untenable the communal system of governance in Barisan Nasional really is.

MCA’s subsidiary status is confirmed when Chua took his resignation letter to see Najib. If Chua wanted to resign his party presidency, shouldn’t he have tendered his resignation to his party? Why approach Najib instead? 

Chua’s mindset reveals that he looks upon Najib as his boss, and by bringing his resignation letter to Najib, he seemed to say: “Sorry Boss, either you let me have this, or I have to quit, since I can’t be useful anymore”.

Presumably, Najib would be so concerned about losing either Chua or MCA’s service that he would relent. 

 

Chinese ministers have little clout

As further indication that MCA is playing the roles of minion in the Cabinet, Najib had to order the Education ministry officer concerned to talk to Wee Ka Siong to sort out the problem. 

If it is just a matter of miscommunication that resulted in an advertisement that did not reflect the agreement reached at the political leadership level, why couldn’t the deputy minister just call up the officer concerned to correct the error? Why must he go with the chief of his party to see the PM before he could can manage to get his subordinate officer to do what he wants?

Isn’t it obvious that deputy minister Wee has no authority whatsoever over his subordinate civil servants?

In fact, the mindset of the entire leadership of MCA has been so attuned to this master-servant relationship that they have already lost any sensibility that such conduct raises eyebrow not only among Chinese but also all Malaysians.

If MCA is an equal partner of Umno – as was the case at the time of founding of the country, and as it should be now or in the future – such an outstanding issue between the different communities should be settled between the bosses of component parties on an equal footing.  For the MCA president to throw a tantrum (with threats to quit his own party) in order to prevail upon the Umno president would have been considered an unthinkable act at the time the political alliance was cemented.

After the miserable failure to live up to its self-proclaimed role as champion and protector of the interests of the Chinese, one marvels at how MCA leaders can still weather the shame. Ye these leaders apparently continue to fight their political cause (or non-cause) with such stubbornness.

If MCA, the second largest component party within the Barisan Nasional coalition (BN) cannot hold up its head in the presence of Umno, what can we expect from the other component members, all of whom the MCA dwarfs in size?

Museum piece in modern age

Such is the sad song of Barisan Nasional that although the coalition professes power sharing and consensus and mutual respect among its numerous component parties, it is in effect only a camouflage for Umno hegemony and with Ketuanan Melayu as its unflinching guiding principle. 

Perhaps few Malaysians realize that Malaysia is the only country governed by a coalition of more than a dozen racial parties, each representing the interests of its own communal group. Such a system of governance might have been justified at the time we gained independence when our sense of nationhood was unformed. That this archaic formula should have persisted for over half a century under the same anachronistic coalition has undoubtedly made Malaysia a museum piece.

Imagine the energy of our people immeasurably dissipated in endless racial squabbling all these decades. If only the time and human resources wasted over these frictions and conflicts had been harnessed for productive nation building, Malaysia would have taken immensely greater strides, rather than slipping badly against our regional neighbours.

It is still not too late to make the changes now. Malaysia has no choice but to discard the defunct if it wants to keep pace with the modern world.