Umno has ‘option’ to work with foes, but chose BN parties, Nazri tells MIC chief

Nazri Aziz is calling it as he sees it. Unvarnished. Brutal. What he said are facts. This is the current reality.

Other than UMNO none of the other BN components can get votes anymore. There is no ballast for the non-UMNO BN components.

UMNO is very confident that most of the Malay voters will vote UMNO regardless of all the news and information on 1MDB etc. UMNO is confident that most of the Malay voters are very clear that without UMNO the Malay race will perish from the face of this earth.

Therefore, UMNO's strategy benefits only UMNO.

The bovine motley crew of MCA, MIC, Gerakan, etc. is dead in the water. They are headed to the waterfall of ignominy without a paddle.

This is the time for timorous leaders to step aside and for leaders of courage and vision to stand up....if there are any.

A long time ago, UMNO was weak. The Independence of Malaya Party was strong under Dato' Onn Jaafar. The MCA was wealthy under Tan Cheng Lock. And, Cheng Lock and Dato' Onn had very good rapport.

But it was Ong Yoke Ling and Yahya bin Abdul Razak who decided that MCA and UMNO could work together for the first real elections in 1951. Thus, the precursor to BN, the Alliance, was born.

But, that was then. 

Times change. Circumstances change. Players change.

It is time for the non-UMNO parties to re-attach their balls of courage and set a new non-BN course.

Reviving the UMNO-MCA spirit

I'm not ignoring the fact and existence of BN as a large coalition of political parties. But, whatever one may say, we cannot ignore that the original duumvirate was UMNO and MCA.

Recall my blog post some time ago here about the personal friendship between Ong Yoke Lin of Kuala Lumpur MCA Branch (later Tun Omar Ong Yoke Lin, past Speaker of Dewan Negara and founder of the air-conditioning company, OYL Industries Bhd) and Datuk Yahaya bin Abdul Razak of Kuala Lumpur UMNO Branch that had led to the idea for an UMNO-MCA alliance to contest the Kuala Lumpur Municipal elections in 1952.

Times may have changed. Players may be different.

What remains immutable is the fact that in the current ethos UMNO and MCA, being the underpinning foundation of BN needs to dig deeper to somehow reach into the original 1952 spirit and pull it to the present.

In 1952, UMNO was, in fact, weaker than the MCA. It's hard to imagine isn't it? The giant at the time was the Independence of Malaya Party (IMP).

The MCA President of the time, Tun Sir Tan Cheng Lock was a personal friend of Dato' Onn Jaafar of the IMP.

Yet, Ong Yoke Lin and Yahya bin Abdul Razak did the scoundrel thing and, in their infinite wisdom, created the seeds of the alliance between UMNO and MCA that has lasted all this while.

I know many within the UMNO ranks of today are foaming at the mouth in a rabid desire to do what comes naturally...kill all the Chinese in one form or another. We all know that kind of thinking is unhelpful.

At the street level, UMNO people are sensible. It's only when they don their superhero UMNO cape that the id comes to the fore.

Right now, UMNO must surely realise that the MCA's travails are not merely internal.

The MCA is struggling largely because of the perception has changed.

The voters know that the UMNO-MCA relationship has not been the same since 1952. It worsened after 1969. It has become worse with the passage of years. The broader BN coalition has not helped.

So here's the rub.

Can UMNO go it alone? Will it always remain one step ahead of PAS and PKR?

Can UMNO forever make DAP the bogeyman for the Malays?

If one were to take the long view, through the prism of a telescope that starts from 1952, it may be easier to get a contextual understanding of the symbiosis between UMNO and the MCA.

Leaving aside historical nostalgia, UMNO lending the MCA some "face" makes future sense.

As with all things that require retail support, not only should UMNO and the MCA re-engage each mother more meaningfully...they must be SEEN to re-engage as near-equals.

Without this framework of understanding and common purpose no amount of "transformation" of the MCA will gain traction.

The ball is very much in UMNO's court in this respect.

UMNO must not ignore the fact that the PKR-PAS-DAP pact is reaching an apogee of sorts. The drag is setting in. Are you going to take advantage of it?

MCA: The Perils of Inheritance

It is interesting to observe some of the MCA's members and leaders uttering reminders about the moribund situation that the MCA has found itself in since 2008.

My surmise is that these utterances will fall on the deaf ears of the next crop of leaders. They are cut from the same cloth as their immediate predecessors.

This is the dilemma of wealthy families.

It is the dilemma of rich countries. Recall the saga of the tiny, formerly phosphate-rich island nation of Nauru.

This is the same dilemma for successful political parties who have parlayed their popularity and power into acquiring wealth for the political party (and, sometimes, for themselves).

A person who inherits something does not need all the traits and characteristics that defined the predecessors and formed the basis of the earlier success.

Often, the beneficiary forgets what it took for the predecessors to achieve the early success. 

Beneficiaries who inherit have a different challenge from the pioneers. It is a challenge of whether to imbibe and embrace the goal, the drive, the vim, vigour and ambition of the predecessors. It all sounds tiresome does it not?

And, so, mediocrity will set in. Industriousness, inventiveness, innovation and sheer desperation is replaced by apathy, narcissism and a basic desire to just eat the fruits and, not tend to the plants and trees from which the fruits were borne.

This is the MCA of today; wealthy beyond Croesus; as unimaginative as a blinkered horse. 

There is no sense of urgency about the impending political irrelevance and death of the political party in future General Elections.

You reap what you sow. If you demand excessive obedience you get sycophants. If you punish out-of-box thinking you get indolence.

From where the rest of us stand, any contest for MCA leadership is perceived to be no different from a shareholder proxy fight to determine who will get to manage the several billion Ringgit worth of Huaren Holdings assets. 

It is a sad inference that the political ideals and goals that got the MCA involved in the formation of Malaya and Malaysia died some time ago. Time of death...unknown.

Well done, Donald Lim!

Donald Lim is thinking along the correct direction for the future of the MCA...

The MCA may have to open its party membership to other races after its worst result in history in Election 2013 as it cannot just bank on the Chinese vote, says the party’s Selangor chief Datuk Donald Lim.

He said the Chinese component party under the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government should look at the bigger picture and take into account the reality of the urban-rural divide, rather than a racial one, as reflected by the election results.

Read the rest here.

Emasculation: BN as a coalition brand

To me, blogging has always been about putting wayward and happenstance thoughts out into the open.

If I have more serious thoughts, I would reduce them into academic papers and have them published as I have in certain academic and professional journals.

This entry is about wayward and happenstance thoughts.

The formation of the Alliance Party comprising UMNO, MCA and MIC was an astute strategy to address a fragmented market of voters in the 1950s and 1960s.

Equally so, the formation of the even larger Barisan Nasional coalition was, in many ways, a response to the needs and demands of an even more fragmented market of voters in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

The new millennium was dramatic for the BN largely due to the formal retirement of Dr M. 

Dr M was the embodiment of and, may well be the last of the paternalistic political leaders Malaysia will ever see. In the immediate euphoria of the post-Mahathir era, BN's successor leadership reaped the benefits and outpouring of goodwill towards the BN brand. BN's landslide win in 2004 was comprehensive and cut across every conceivable section of the Malaysian electorate.

If ever there was an example of a collective high, 2004 was it for Malaysian politics. The stuffy air in an enclosed room was replaced by the fresh air of greater political freedom.

What happened then? 

There is enough good political analyses already published that accurately document and contain sound inferences about why that groundswell of goodwill toward BN in 2004 was lost in 2008. 

This entry is about GE 2013 from the narrow perspective of BN as a political brand and, more to the point, why only the main sub-brand of UMNO attracted its traditional loyal following while the other component sub-brands suffered badly.

Why did the voters not embrace the BN brand when presented with non-UMNO sub-brands?

There are many factors, of course. There is the factor of the urban voters. There is the issue of racial groupings. Perhaps, we can add the possibility of personality, religion, campaign messages and strategy and many other factors. This is fertile ground for much socio-politica analysis.

I choose to look at only one possible factor. Emasculation.

Yes. You got it right. Emasculation.

The loss of power and, for want of a better word, masculinity.

Castration. Cutting off the cojones. Weakening. Deprivation of vigour.

These words describe the non-UMNO components of the BN.

This, to my mind, was a major factor that explains why non-UMNO BN components fared badly.

In the mid-1990s, I was, like the rest of the world, enthralled by Tiger Woods and his amazing skills and his will to win. He wore the Nike brand.

Everyone wanted to be like Tiger. Hell, I wanted to be like Tiger. How do I get to feel like I can be like Tiger? 

I bought the brands that Tiger wore. I bought Nike.

And, what, you may ask, has this Tiger-fixation episode got to do with the failure of the non-UMNO BN components?

Those of us who are either of a certain vintage or, who are conscientious armchair students of Malaysian history, may recall the deep personal bonds of friendship between the leaders of UMNO, MCA and MIC in the 1950s and 1960s. They would hang out, spin yarns, gulp down brandy and enjoy jocular banter. It was a true fraternity of the political elite.

Voters felt that if there was any issue that needed to be resolved these leaders would do so in a congenial setting and discuss matters with civility.

There was still evidence of this in the 1970s.

It disappeared in the 1980s.

BN went from a partnership of friends and transformed into a large corporation of strangers.

There is a light theory that it didn't help matters that Dr M never played golf. So, one could never catch up with him for casual chit chats with him in various states of undress in the dressing room. He was only accessible in controlled settings. That may be just golfers' bias. But, then again...

Anyway, the point that I am hazarding is that the electorate is neither blind nor deaf nor dumb. 

It can see the glaring contrast between the power and the glory that UMNO's leaders embody and the emasculated parochialism, insularity and pettiness that successive non-UMNO BN leaders has embodied.

Juxtapose that with the constant joint appearances of the Pakatan Rakyat leaders from PKR, PAS and DAP and their distinctive combined party logos in the shirts worn by the Pakatan Rakyat leaders and  the flags flown.

The contrast in imagery was that leaders from the non-UMNO BN components needed to "make an appointment" to have access to power, while Pakatan Rakyat leaders could just look each other up without any formal arrangements.

This is what I mean about the emasculation chanelled by non-UMNO BN components.

The marketing message of Pakatan Rakyat was, even for neutrals, sublime, exciting and seductive.

Who doesn't want a multiracial leadership and national unity? Who doesn't want leaders with power or, at least, real access to power?

Who doesn't respond to positive vibes that channels Martin Luther King Jr's "I have a dream" oratory?

In contrast, voters were entreated with non-UMNO BN components like the MCA leaders pleading with the electorate not to give them "an egg" (meaning "zero"). Worse still, voters were abused with  self-indulgent and poor karaoke singing and forced to take home DVDs of candidates singing.

All of us want leaders who can hold themselves as a prism through which we can identify the best things that we wish for ourselves, our children and our community. We want leaders who can mirror our desires and aspirations.

The UMNO-BN leaders were obviously able to channel all that.

The non-UMNO BN leaders were not able to. Instead, they channeled a sense of emasculation and self-indulgence. This is not something the electorate want to see or feel when it examines the slate of political candidates.

This, to my mind, is the challenge for BN as a coalition brand. I admit that it is a simplistic entry; superficial even. That is why it is only a blog post and, not an academic paper.

The challenge is at many, many levels. Each BN component needs an internal overhaul. 

Someone made an observation to me recently, that the MCA's party constitution is so skewed to favour the incumbents that there is almost no way for any maverick to move the delegates to challenge the incumbents. So, it becomes a cesspool where elite factions fight each other without allowing young leaders to enter.

In fairness, the same accusation can be hurled at the Pakatan Rakyat components.

So, the difference may be in the area of the attitude of the leaders. 

For some reason, the Pakatan Rakyat is able to attract bright and young political talent and fast-track them into the electoral fray.

In contrast, BN components appear to be hierarchical, bureaucratic, staid, slow, ponderous, troglodytic and unimaginative.

Is this just a perception? 

Judging from the harsh feedback from the electorate in GE13, BN components have got a lot of soul-searching and structural reconstruction to embark on.

Leaders like Saifuddin Abdullah may well have hit the nail on the head in renewing the call for direct memberships into BN.

Voters need to feel like they are voting for candidates who have real power.

BN leaders may say, what is the point of voting for Pakatan Rakyat candidates who are not in government? Where got power, like that?

But, they would be wrong.

A good wakil rakyat will get the job done or, be seen to try to get the job done. That, to the voter, may be good enough...for now; someone to lend an ear; someone to lend a shoulder to lean on; someone to cry out about your plight; someone to represent your frustration; someone who can stand up for you.

So, please get to work!

Saifuddin Abdullah

UMNO-BN is lucky to have a man like Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah in their ranks. Personally, I would vote for him any time. 

Saifuddin is the type of political leader who is completely in tune with the times. 

And, what are the times?

In these times political leaders have to engage the electorate. Meet their sentiments and their need to vent head on. Deal with their feelings honestly. Tell them how you feel also. Prove to them that you are bringing up the hard issues with your party's leadership. 

Show them what you have written to your party leadership to convey what your constituents feel.

And, if what you have done is still not enough to convince the electorate, persist.

People acknowledge and admire and respond to human valour and spirit.

One must not only be magnanimous in victory. Saifuddin has admirably demonstrated that one can be equally magnanimous in defeat. What a guy!

I am convinced that, at the rate he is responding to adversity, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah will be victorious in the 14th General Elections.

As for the likes of Teh Kim Poo (see earlier posts below), the less of his ilk in the MCA and Gerakan the better off BN will be.

That said, I find that many of the post-GE13 pronouncements by the MIC has been very admirable...except for that Saravanan fella who may get his comeuppance in due course at the rate he is going.

Klang MCA Closes Service Centre, Disappointed With Chinese Voter Support

You see? What did I say about Teh Kim Poo as an example of the wrongheadedness of MCA's current crop of leaders?

The Klang MCA division Tuesday announced the closure of its people's service centre in Kampung Baru Pandamaran here, with immediate effect.

This follows its disappointment with the Chinese voters who did not support the party, especially in the Klang parliamentary constituency.

Division chairman Datuk Teh Kim Poo said the decision to close the centre, which had been operating for the past five years, was also due to financial reason as the party could no longer afford to bear its management cost.

He said this was because the cost of managing the service centre - set up to assist the people in the district - was funded by the division's own resources.

"We (Klang MCA division) saw the 13th General Election (GE13) results, especially in the Klang parliamentary seat and the four state seats in the constituency, as reflecting the voters non-acceptance of our service and hence, did not choose us in the election.

"Apart from that, we deeply regret the results as the DAP and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) candidates contesting in the Klang area, came to the area for just two weeks and won," he said in a media conference here today.

What else to say except to suggest that MCA's leaders try to get some staying power by reflecting on Tennyson's Ulysses (previous blog post) ....

A dedication

I seem drawn, for some inexplicable reason to Tennyson's verses from his work Ulysses. This, I dedicate to everyone who worked tirelessly for their respective teams recently. I especially dedicate this to the people of MCA, Gerakan and MIC in the hope that they may persist in their endeavour; embittered and bloodied but, unbowed.

They need to reset their compass and begin anew. Cast off the old baggage and trappings. Bring in new heroes. The old soldiers must now accept that their time is over. Step aside to let the new heroes come into the fray.

Come, my friends, 
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world. 
Push off, and sitting well in order smite 
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds 
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths 
Of all the western stars, until I die. 
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down; 
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, 
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew. 
Though much is taken, much abides; and though 
We are not now that strength which in old days 
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are, 
One equal temper of heroic hearts, 
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will 
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. 

Federal Cabinet: The best and the brightest

I had to borrow the title of David Halberstam's seminal book (1972) on the Vietnam War for this post. While Halberstam's title was intended to contrast negatively the excellent academic and corporate credentials of the U.S. Cabinet members who somehow lost their objectivity and led the U.S. in the miasma and morass of the Vietnam War, this post hopes to address a reverse scenario in the context of the new Federal Cabinet that BN will be forming.

Whether or, not, the MCA maintains its stand to reject Cabinet positions under the new Najib Administration, I hope that Najib will look beyond the BN component party leaders to form the new Cabinet. 

I hope Najib will use all resources available to him to seek and, persuade, capable people to assume Cabinet positions.

People like Koh Tsu Koon and Rais Yatim were ineffective in the previous Cabinet as were a few others.

Whatever brickbats that may have been thrown at him, the elevation of Idris Jala to a Cabinet position was quite an inspired decision. For better or, for worse, Idris Jala put in the type of effort that many Cabinet members didn't.

So, Najib should look beyond the pale of the BN component parties in an effort to seek out capable Malaysians to serve the country and narrow the rural-urban divide that seems to have formed as shown in the 2013 General Elections.

I say, make full use of the Senatorships, to get in the talent.

Don't just look at the paltry offerings in the larder.

The task at hand, if anything, is to continue to focus on the Economic Transformation Programme.

The capital market has responded positively to the certainty that a continued BN Administration offers. This is a very good re-start.

The concern remains about the debt levels of the Malaysian government. The fiscal deficit has to be pared down. This is a must.

The handouts must be reduced. There must be a better managed needs-based welfare programme that alleviates poverty and social challenges at a more target-specific level. No more carpet-bombing of money handouts, please.

While Malaysia's social safety nets are already quite good, it can be better.

MCA's proposal to reject all government posts

The MCA appears to have taken the position that its members who have government-appointed positions should resign in the wake of the 2013 General Election debacle.

With the greatest of respect, such a stand is childish and silly.

I am reminded of what Teh Kim Poo did after the 2008 General Election when he lost his State Assembly seat in Pandamaran, Selangor. He decided to "punish" in the manner described below-

MCA Klang division chairman Datuk Teh Kim Poo says he will write to the federal government to cancel grants totalling RM7.05 million for three new village projects in Pandamaran, in the Klang district, Selangor.

According to reports in the Chinese press today, he said he is doing this because he is fed up with the constant attacks from the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state government and incessant criticisms and complaints directed at him by villagers whom he said are "ungrateful" for his help and service.

The vocal former Pandamaran assemblyman said if the residents remain unappreciative of his service, he would consider closing his service centre and quit politics.

Notwithstanding such an action, the man was back in 2013 as the BN Parliamentary candidate for Klang! 

Not wanting MCA representatives in the Federal Cabinet, State Excos and government-appointed positions is a silly position to take. 

Much as I wanted to resist it, I couldn't help but be reminded about this story in connection with likely intent of the MCA's current posture-

When the body was first made, all the parts wanted to be the boss.

The brain said, "since I control everything and do all the thinking, I should be the boss."

The feet said, "since I carry man where he wants to go and get him in position todo what the brain wants, then I should be the boss."

The hands said, "since I must do all the work and earn all the money to keep the rest of you going, I should be the boss."

And so it went with the eyes, the heart, the lungs, and all the other parts of 

the body, each giving the reason why they should be the boss.

Finally, the asshole spoke up and said it was going to be the boss.

All the other parts laughed and laughed at the idea of the asshole being the boss. The asshole got so angry that he blocked himself off and refused to function.

Soon the brain was feverish and could barely think, the feet felt like lead 

weights and was almost too weak to drag the body anywhere, the eyes grew bleary, and the hands hung useless at the sides. All pleaded with the brain to let the asshole be declared the boss. 

And so it happened; all the other parts did all the work and the asshole just 

bossed and passed out a lot of shit.

I implore the MCA not to go ahead with the plan to reject any offers of Federal Cabinet, State Excos and government-appointed positions.

It sends the wrong message to the community and, as I have said of Teh Kim Poo's action in the wake of 2008; such actions have a terrible habit of coming back to haunt you later on.

Whatever said and done, Malaysian voters did vote for your candidates. And, you may be in a sulky mood. But, your service and involvement is still needed.

So, if you'll pardon my French, don't act like an asshole.

MCA Redux: Malaysian Communities Association

At its present trajectory, it is a given that the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) will disappear into the footnotes of Malaysian history. In its current guise, the MCA is out of step with the evolution of Malaysia's democracy and politics.

In the wake of the 2008 General Elections, where the MCA had a dismal showing, we heard the MCA leaders eschew the opportunity to embrace and reach out to a wider Malaysian community. Instead, the MCA leaders said, the MCA cannot become a multi-racial party unless UMNO becomes multi-racial. If you care to do a check-back on my earlier blog posts under the label "MCA" (circa. 2008) you will find that I had urged the MCA to embrace the strong message from the electorate that it needed to reach out to the wider Malaysian polity beyond Chinese clan associations and chambers of commerce. This they did not do. The implications, as we have seen in the 2013 General Elections, is laid bare.

Chua Soi Lek's recent pronouncement in the aftermath of the 2013 General Elections, that Malaysia will see a two-race political system were the Malays are in government and the Chinese in opposition, would be hilarious if not for the danger such a myopic and superficial inference creates. Based on that statement alone, Chua Soi Lek should immediately resign as MCA President instead of "not seeking re-election".

If MCA members genuinely share Chua's views, then, the MCA is surely doomed.

Firstly, such a view reveals that there is zero analytical skills in the MCA. This probably explains why the MCA did not take heed of the message sent by the electorate in 2008.

Secondly, such a view shows that the MCA leadership is trapped within UMNO's race-based narrative scripted single-handedly by Dr Mahathir. It is a trap of MCA's own choosing, by the way. So, don't blame UMNO. UMNO merely led the MCA horse to the trough. It did not force the MCA horse to drink from the racialist pool of putrid water. 

There are two possible broad interpretations of the 2008 and 2013 General Election results for the MCA. They may not be mutually exclusive.

One, the Chinese Malaysians, together with most urban Malaysian voters, want to be represented by the best and brightest Malaysian politicians regardless of their race. Nurul Izzah, Rafizi Ramli, Khairy Jamaludin and Tony Pua are  some  high-profile examples. Saifudin Abdullah should be on this list too.

Two, Chinese Malaysians want to be represented by humble, modest and conscientious MCA leaders who dare to take on the difficult issues that are of major concern to urban voters. These are issues such as good governance, open tenders of government projects, crime-fighting, corruption, the environment, quality of  and access to education and fair play. They do not ever want to be embarrassed by VCDs and DVDs of MCA leaders in compromising positions or, singing karaoke songs.

On both scores, the MCA has failed. 

The slate of candidates offered by the MCA in 2013 were not properly promoted. They were ill-prepared to face the demanding electorate. Worse of all, they had no answers to the hard questions that the electorate was asking. Instead, the electorate was subjected to fear-mongering about the hudud or, bombarded with karaoke DVDs.

The MCA were not just bland, they appeared to be completely out of step with the electorate. That, surely, must be the greatest reason to indict the current MCA leadership. How could the MCA have no political strategy beyond the hudud?

There were so many oversized pink elephants in every room and tent and, dare I say, in every mammoth dinner hosted by MCA that the electorate was bewildered by MCA's sheer indolence and insularity. The colloquial Malaysian expression is, probably, syiok sendiri.

But, all is not lost. 

The MCA still has some life in it and some pretty damn good advantages.

First, it has lost and lots of money.

Second, it has lots and lots of party branches.

Third, it has lots and lots of members.

Fourth, it has lots of history and, therefore, pedigree.

Now, it just has to parlay those strengths with a change in content.

The starting point has to be some serious soul-searching on the matter of changing the "Chinese" in its "C" to "Communities". With this, will come the requisite repositioning its political strategy. 

The next step is to do some mental surgery to re-attach the cojones that it has put in deep freeze because its leaders over the past several decades has chosen patronage politics that involves getting projects for themselves and cronies.

This is the time for re-invention.

Some may say that, if you were to look at the history of the MCA, this party was always elitist and self-serving. It had its roots in Kuomintang sympathies and looked with concern to the issues and challenges that wracked post-imperial China. It, then, morphed into a political body that engaged Malayan concerns about citizenship for the Chinese community and the needs of the Chinese business community.

It may be said also that the needs of the Chinese community at the time were dealt with by clan associations and dialect associations working in a loose collaboration with the MCA. Tun Tan Cheng Lock was famously criticised for being illiterate in the Mandarin.

But, why should history shackle the MCA of the present? Just as modern corporations can transform from a small start in one industry into a corporate giant in another, so, too, can the MCA make that quantum leap from being Chinese-based to becoming Communities-based.

And, I'll let the MCA in one one secret.

You don't need UMNO's permission to do this.

BN: Downsizing to be nimble and true

While most people like to plunge into the rough and tumble of cat-calling and invective of happenstance events such as movies with food themes that contain socio-political commentaries, I find it more useful to examine our key political players for structure and process.

The 3 major components of the BN are facing a spot of bother.

They each have bloated memberships.

I use the word "bloated" most deliberately because, I dare say, two-thirds of their membership are filled with passive "hangers-on" who became members in the hope of material gain.

I have experienced several times, a situation where prior to meetings with certain MCA Ministers, I was asked whether I was a party member. 

Such a question typifies the 3 major BN component parties.

This is based on the paradigm established in the 1980s when BN's hegemony writ large and the patronage game was all the rage.

It is likely that in that era (which may have ended in March 2008), the leadership perception was that a large membership base will guarantee a large base of human capital that can be tapped whenever required.

The question that should rightly haunt BN leaders is, what happened to the millions of members in March 2008?

Malaysia has changed from the times when it was important for political parties to enter into business directly to institutionalise the warchest to fight all future political battles. Such a move is now questioned by all and sundry - from the rarefied air of the corporate suites of GLCs to the warungs.

Malaysia's population has become better educated and, some say, wealthier. And, there is also that Pandora's Box that will never ever close again, the Internet and social media.

Troglodytes in the BN ranks, particularly those in charge of multimedia, see the Internet and social media as a threat. They constantly attack the medium with appalling results. For, the Internet and social media behaves exactly like the mythical Hydra.

So, what to do?

I will provide a simple example that will address both the issue of bloated memberships (and, therefore, the need to downsize) and the strategy to engage the Internet and social media.

Just study the wildly successful Obama Presidential Campaign of 2008. That's the key.

The other is, to slowly pare down the bloated "inventory" that are the passive memberships. 

The third key takeaway should be to discard the treasure chest - yes, discard it by making earnest and sincere gifts of these valuable assets, such as controlling stakes in publicly-listed companies - and makes gifts of them to established and credible non-profit and charitable institutions - give it back to the people, so to speak.

Then and, I believe, only then, can the BN components re-engage the body politic with positive outcomes.

The key is how to engender the spirit of volunteerism in the mass of voters.

There are many, many, many examples of political parties with small membership bases that attract throngs of volunteers in the run-up to each political election - usually young voters - who are attracted to and, buys into the platform and manifesto of the political party in question.

The irony is that it is difficult for BN to find volunteers because everyone called upon by the BN expects to be paid. That used to be a good thing. Post-Match 2008, it's become a shitty situation.

A volunteer internalises the choice to support you. They are invested in you and your cause.

Paid party hacks and their fellow travellers have no heart because they're only in it for the money.

If BN components cannot see the difference, then, they're cooked.

This is a tough and stark choice.  

MCA: Get the emotional connection going

The MCA almost lost its underpants in the General Elections of 2008.

With GE13 looming its luminaries are attempting (belatedly) to enter into cyberspace more aggressively.

The MCA has also offered to buy Menara Multi-Purpose in KL as a long-term investment.

What do these two disparate actions mean?

Let's not forget the cat-calling and trading of barbs between the ex-President and the sitting President.

I'm not about to psychoanalyse the MCA. That would be the stuff of serious academic analysis. I will not presume to trivialise a political institution as important as the MCA.

Yes, the MCA is a political institution. It has a long and distinguished history. Hell, "renegade" MCA guys like Ong Yoke Lin in the KL Branch went against Tan Cheng Lock in 1951 to tie-up with UMNO at a time when Onn Jaafar's Independence of Malaya Party was the preferred flavour of the British colonial administration. Historical records confirm this.

So, how the heck did MCA's leaders lose the plot? How did they get the party so emasculated that it is now a mere eunuch? 

During the 1974 General Elections (yes, the one where all Chinese Malaysians were entreated to the photo-op of Tun Razak shaking hands with Chairman Mao), my father's car was festooned with mini BN flags. My father was an MCA Branch Chairman.

Where is this leading to?

I think I read somewhere that the MCA has a net asset worth in excess of RM2 billion (or, maybe more).

With that kind of deep pockets, the MCA can spend on some serious marketing and advertising campaign.

This is no time to be parsimonious. 

Come GE13, the MCA will be fighting for its political life.

It's time to sprinkle some magic dust.

My humble suggestion to the great egos at the MCA (yes, I've met some of them. And, yes, I did have to look up to the heavens for some of them. Though, to be fair, many MCA leaders were suitably modest...which is one of the minor reasons why I'm even bothering to write this.) is to consider an advertising and public relations campaign.

MCA has the financial resources. It has deep enough pockets to execute a good pre-GE13 campaign.

Whatever MCA has been doing to-date is too little and too lost in the cacophony of Malaysian politics.

And, by the way, getting nubile young Wanita MCA lasses to do tweets won't be enough. They'll either be too cheesy and effusive or, worse, become tweet-bitches if they are too aggressive. 

What the MCA needs is to tell its story.

The MCA story needs to be told at several levels.

To the mature demographic, the emotional connection is to MCA's role in the founding of the nation. Hearken back to the days when the MCA had Ministers holding substantive portfolios such as Trade and Commerce and Finance. Apart from the populace, there's no harm reminding big brother UMNO that when there was an MCA guy in charge, the Finance portfolio was well-run.

To the middle-class demographic, the MCA needs to create an emotional connection.

To the entry-level voting demographic, the MCA needs to provide an edgy message beyond just whacking the DAP and whacking hudud. The MCA has to go beyond making lame appeals to UMNO. The MCA has to realise that saying that there will be no MCA Ministerial representation if it gets less than the number of seats it currently has won't cut it with the voters.

The entry-level voting demographic needs to get an emotional connection with the MCA. They need to get beyond the cynical view that everyone who joins the MCA is in it for the money alone and, everything else are platitudes.

I don't have the answers as to what emotional messages need to be created. Nobody is paying me to think that hard about the MCA! 

I can only give clues. 

By the way, although my father was an MCA Branch Chairman many, many moons ago, I don't have any emotional connection to the MCA. I felt something momentarily in the late 1980s. But, since then I've lost it. Nada. Nothing.

But, wait a minute, the fact that I constantly write about the MCA, UMNO and BN, less about the DAP and Pakatan, should give you a clue.

Needless to say, I am jaded with BN as a whole because of Perkasa and PPSMI. Both matters reek of manipulative opportunism by a desperate BN machinery. The rakyat can see through the ruse and, they ain't buyin.

My humble view is that there was never any need for BN "to go there" - to the darkest recesses of the Malaysian psyche.

So, back to the MCA.

The MCA needs to ratchet up its emotional connection to Malaysians, Chinese or otherwise.

That's the key...the emotional connection.

Get the message right and Malaysians like me may give it a real, hard look.

Chua Soi Lek: Ruling M’sia is a racial balancing act

Below is the interview that MCA President Dr Chua Soi Lek gave to The Edge Financial Daily. 

TEFD: How has it been since you were elected as MCA president over a year ago?
Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek: It has been a busy one and a half years trying to ensure that the party is united and more stable with what we call Unity in Purpose and that we can then move forward.

Has it been easy to pull everyone back together?
I would say that I have managed to pull most of the people back but in any political party, there can never be 100%.

What is the single thing that has been most challenging in your tenure?
Uniting the various members and factions.

Chua: We want the goverment to transform as fast as what the rakyat wants.

Recently you tweeted that there are some unhappiness in the Kulai division.
All political parties, at every division, have its own internal conflicts. That’s what makes politics very challenging and interesting. To project a party to say it has no factions and no cliques, that is the biggest lie in the world.

At the central and state level, I would say MCA is very united. It is at the divisional level that we still see a lot of people problems where people cannot put aside their differences in opinion. They are at loggerheads over minor things.

But the divisions are crucial for the party, aren’t they?
Oh yes! It is at the division that things get done.

So you will have to settle the conflicts before the general election?
You can never settle all these internal conflicts. The important thing is to choose a candidate who is acceptable and winnable.

MCA: Malaysian Communities Association

In spite of being far removed from the rarefied air of politics in Malaysia, there is one clear view about the necessary direction that the Malaysian Chinese Association needs to take if it wishes to avoid the certainty of becoming less and less relevant to all but a select few well-heeled Chinese Malaysian businessmen.

The MCA has to be less about race and more about the Malaysian community.

The present tactic of the MCA in appearing the meet provocative views tossed out by the likes of Perkasa rings hollow.

Worse still, the views offered by the likes of Dr Chua Soi Lek are stymied by the parameters of race. 

I hope that there will be an urgent reassessment by the MCA leadership to earnestly and concertedly frame all issues within the framework of the needs of the Malaysian community as a whole instead of spewing points that are of supposed importance to the Chinese community in Malaysia.

Why deprive MCA of the ability to transcend the racial paradigm?

If the polemics are caught within the framework and agenda of race, it is ALWAYS going to give the appearance of a zero-sum game. If there are 10 units of resources and 4 racial groupings with an average ratio of Bumiputra 5, Chinese 3, Indians 1 and Others 1 the resources will be arguably distributed based on the 5:3:1:1 ratio.

But such a mindset is stupid, myopic, troglodytic and wrongheaded.

The correct perspective should be how to increase the units of resources from 10 to, say, 20 or, even 50?

Even my poorly educated grandfather knew this perspective way back in the 1950s. His metaphor was that of changing the size of the kuali or wok to an ever-increasing size and capacity in order to properly feed a growing family. 

Almost everyone knows that it is an easy and lazy and mischievious tactic to harp on race.

It is foolhardy for the MCA to fall into such a trap.

So, I call upon the MCA to reassess its political strategy and rework its paradigm in order to stay relevant and to win back support.

Otherwise, it will be giving more business to the undertakers.

Let teaching of Maths and Science in English be a choice for parents and schools

Like many Malaysians I am heartened that there are more public moves within the Barisan Nasional establishment to support the maintenance of the teaching and study of Maths and Science in the English language.

Now we have PM Najib being quoted-

Najib had said that the Goverment would study the possibility of using two mediums of instructions in the teaching of Science and Mathematics in schools.

And, MCA Chairman Chua Soi Lek saying-

Parents should be given a choice to select the language for these subjects in schools where adequate qualified teachers are available.

“The teaching of the two subjects in English is a must if we are moving towards a developed nation status and want to compete on the global front,” he said yesterday.

My views on maintaining the teaching of Maths and Science in the English language is clear. Keep it.

But, I'm okay with where BN is taking this matter. Now they are framing it as a matter of choice. Parents and schools may be given the choice of whether to have Maths and Science taught in English or in Bahasa Malaysia.

This outcome will be sensible and, I dare say, it should be well-received by all sections of the Malaysian community.

-----------------------

On the matter of choice, it is interesting to see the slightly more sophisticated positioning of the MCA in public issues of late.

On the matter of the lottery ban in Kelantan, the MCA said the choice should be given to non-Muslims whether or, not, to buy lottery tickets.

On this matter of the teaching of Maths and Science in the English language (or, alternatively, in Bahasa Malaysia), the MCA wants parents to have a choice.

MCA is clearly trying to become the political party "of choice", if you'll pardon the pun.

It's a good trend that the MCA should keep at. 

MCA's relevance

The brickbats thrown at Donald Lim's call for a Perkasa-like Chinese Malaysian movement in recent days is well-deserved.

The brickbats thrown at Liow Tiong Lai's call for an RM1 billion further infusion of funds to Chinese-language schools, on the premise that it will win BN and MCA further support of the Chinese Malaysian voters, is also well-deserved.

Donald's premise

Donald's premise is that an ultra movement claiming to represent "rights" of the Chinese Malaysian community will catalyse the Chinese Malaysian community to rally around the MCA and, therefore, BN.

Donald's logic must have been founded on the perceived sex appeal of Ib and Perkasa.

There is, of course, no foundation to Donald's logic.

How a Vice President of the MCA can make such a call is beyond comprehension.

The Chinese Malaysian community has always been robust, rugged and resilient. It's hallmark is industriousness, adaptability and flexibility. In this regard, the community mirrors all Chinese communities in a global disapora.

If there are any "rights" that the Chinese Malaysians community craves for, it is the right to be left alone (especially from the taxman) and, the right NOT to see its hard-earned tax contributions frittered away by corrupt practices, favouritism and general wastages in the Government and its agencies.

In this sense, is the desire of the Chinese Malaysian community any different from that of any other Malaysian community?

This is the naked truth that Donald is in denial of or, worse still, that Donald fails to see at all.

I offer only one abbreviated acronym that Donald and the MCA needs to immediately deal with: PKFZ.

Deal with that one and, Donald and the MCA can talk turkey with the Chinese Malaysian community or, any other Malaysian community for that matter.

Tong Lai's premise

Tiong Lai's call for an additional RM1 billion funding for Chinese-language schools in Malaysia is wrongly premised. His purported belief is that such a move will garner more support for MCA and BN from the Chinese Malaysian community.

Does anyone actually, seriously believe that?

Again, I offer only one abbreviated acronym that Tiong Lai and the MCA needs to immediately deal with: PKFZ.

Regaining relevance

This will have to come later. Duty calls.... :(

Post March 8, 2008, the great socio-political and socio-economic issues in Malaysia have been laid bare. It does not take any effort to purchase any number of books that have spawn from that Great Wakeup Call.

To reconstruct and reposition itself, the MCA has to do what none of the BN components have been truly able to do to-date - to wake up from the state of denial.

If we ignore the school of thought that inferred that the Great Wakeup Call was due to the sheer attractiveness of Pakatan Rakyat, then, we are left with the other school of thought which inferred that the Great Wakeup Call was a warning shot by the Malaysian electorate over the bow of the BN supertanker.

Why did the electorate do that?

Why did a large proportion of the Semenanjung Malaysia electorate reject MCA and BN?

I am still puzzling as to whether any real post-mortem was done by MCA and its BN brethren. The operative word is "real".

That is why I say that the MCA and its BN brethren is still living in Egypt - a state of the Nile (sic) denial.

Perhaps the sarcastic moniker given by one Sinnathamby Rajaratnam of the Peoples Action Party, who contested and won the Bangsar parliamentary seat in 1964, is still apposite of the MCA. Certainly Tiong Lai seems to think so.

Rajaratnam said that the abbreviated name "MCA" meant "Money Changes All".

For completeness, he also said "UMNO" meant "U May Not Oppose".

He also said "MIC" meant "May I Come-in(?)".

Has anything changed since then?

More importantly, has anything changed since the Great Wakeup Call?

Donald and Ib: A descent from the heights

Here's an interesting angle to ponder over. It isn't new. But, it never gets old:

Napoleon complex is a colloquial term describing an alleged type of inferiority complex which is said to affect some people, especially men, who are short in stature. The term is also used more generally to describe people who are driven by a perceived handicap to overcompensate in other aspects of their lives. This term is also known as Napoleon syndrome,

Short Man syndrome, Little Man syndrome and Small Man syndrome. It does not appear in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

The Napoleon complex is named after French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. The conventional wisdom is that Napoleon overcompensated for his short height by seeking power, war and conquest. However, Napoleon was actually of average height for his time period and misconceptions may have been due to an incorrect conversion of his height. Historians have now suggested Napoleon was 5'6 (1.68 m) tall. Napoleon was often seen with his Imperial Guard, which contributed to the perception of him being short because the Imperial Guards were above average height. In psychology, the Napoleon complex is regarded as a derogatory social stereotype.

Tun Omar Ong Yoke Lin

In August last year, in the run-up to the Merdeka celebration, I blogged about a pivotal piece of our history. It was about a friendship between two men that led to the first collaboration between UMNO and MCA. That collaboration led to the formation of the Alliance Party coalition that comprised UMNO, MCA and MIC.

One of the men was Ong Yoke Lin. Tun Omar Ong Yoke Lin's place in Malaysia's history is secure.

I just read about his passing at age 92. I offer my condolences to the late Tun's family.

In Tun's honour, I reproduce below the blog post I did on 13 August 2009:

Merdeka lessons: The value of friendship

As the leaders of UMNO and MCA grapple with pockets of implosion due to circumstances that are either beyond their control or, of their own doing, the Merdeka fortnight approaches.

And, as the mood of the country turns schizophrenic, from bouts of racialism and multi-racial friendships, the Merdeka fortnight approaches.

The importance of friendship among Malaysia's leaders cannot be ignored and, the stories of past friendships should never be forgotten.

One of the useful things about having been an avid bookworm since my teenage years, particularly on books written about Malaysian politics, is that I have been able to build up a fairly respectable personal library.

One of the greatest pleasures of a book afficionado is to be able to browse. The pleasure is all the greater is one browses one's own stock of books. I wish to refer to a fairly obscure book published in 1979. It's an semi-autobiographical work by TH Tan, a name that now hardly warrants a footnote in Malaysian history books.
________________

Mohammed Tahir Tan Hong Hye also known as T. H. Tan, was a Singapore-born journalist and politician who became the Secretary of the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) and the first honorary Secretary-General of the Alliance Party in Malaya. He is mainly remembered for being among the three men (the others being Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Abdul Razak) who took part in the UMNO-MCA Alliance delegation to London in 1954 to demand for an effective elected majority in the Federal Legislative Council of Malaya.

He embraced Islam in his later years due to his utter love and respect for the values that Tunku Abdul Rahman demonstrated and, later, became one of the key persons in the founding of PERKIM. Ironically, the onlyonline biographical input on TH Tan that I could find is in the Singapore National Library website. That is a sad testimony to how badly unavailable Malaysian archival records are. How to learn Malaysian history like that?

Anyway, in 1979, TH Tan published The Prince and I, which provides a good and solid and highly readable account of the events leading to Merdeka and the ensuing years.

Here is an extract of TH Tan's book that describes how the personal friendship between Ong Yoke Lin of Kuala Lumpur MCA Branch (later Tun Omar Ong Yoke Lin, past Speaker of Dewan Negara and founder of the air-conditioning company, OYL Industries Bhd) and Datuk Yahaya bin Abdul Razak of Kuala Lumpur UMNO Branch had the impulse to moot the idea for an UMNO-MCA alliance to contest the Kuala Lumpur Municipal elections in 1952.

pix from here.

This was the seed that was planted that became a sapling that grew into the Alliance Party (Parti Perikatan) and, later grew into a massive tree that we now know as Barisan Nasional.
___________________________

They were school friends. They held a series of meetings between themselves to discuss the impending Kuala Lumpur Municipal Election which the British Administration agreed to under pressure of public opinion. Having agreed between themselves that co-operation was not only practicable but, indeed, essential for political progress, Datuk Yahaya and Ong Yoke Lin brought the proposition to their respective State party chairmen. This led to a formal meeting between UMNO and the MCA, under the chairmanship of Col. (now Tun) Henry HS Lee.

The meeting unanimously decided to form an UMNO-MCA "merger" to contest the Kuala Lumpur Municipal Eelections. This was reported to the national Presidents of UMNO, Tunku Abdul Rahman and of MCA, Datuk Tan Cheng Lock, both of whom unhesitatingly gave their blessings.

Thus was the Alliance born.
_________________________

Historians may embellish TH Tan's version of events with the context of the times and, that Tan Cheng Lock had one foot in Dato' Onn bin Jaafar's Independence of Malaya Party (IMP) camp at that point in time. But, my point is a simple one.

It is a historical fact that Datuk Yahaya Abdul Razak of UMNO and Ong Yoke Lin of MCA were schoolmates and friends. That rapport was the catalyst and balm that sparked the idea of two communal parties to form an historic alliance.

MCA at the cusp of a Pyrrhic victory

Some time ago I pointed to the increasing irrelevance of the MCA within the Malaysian landscape. In the last General Elections the negative voter sentiment towards MCA candidates was palpable. In case anyone has forgotten, the party was then led by Ong Ka Ting.

One would have thought that after such a disastrous electoral outing, the party would have conducted post-mortems and regrouped and instituted meaningful reforms to reconnect with the voters who had spurned the party's candidates.

That hasn't happened.

Instead, we have witnessed and, are witnessing a convulsive implosion of the party.

The leadership problems that the MCA is facing in recent months exemplify the disease of insularity that can only be spawned by the party's institutional structure that is designed to perpetuate centralisation of power at the expense of genuine democratic spirit.

We are now witnessing the nauseating jostling and wheeling and dealing that is going on in the run-up to the party's March 22 nominations.

It is an ugly spectacle that does no favours for the BN coalition.

Whoever gains power in the MCA, the irrelevance of the party to the wider electorate remains.

I'm not really interested in the petty intrigues and constant re-alignment of factions. That is a matter better left to genuine political analysts. Rather, I'm more focused on the bigger picture of whether the MCA will have any credibility left in eyes of the wider electorate after the internecine infighting tapers off.

So, I make this unhappy observation that whomever and whichever "team" wins the battle for leadership will be achieving a Pyrrhic victory, that is to say, a victory with such devastating cost to the victor, it carries the implication that another such will ultimately cause defeat.

This is the sad indictment on the current slate of MCA leaders. And, it points to a devastatingly bleak future for a party which has had such a distinguished past.

And, speaking of the past, the current slate of amnesiac leadership contenders will do well to read Francis Loh's concise essay on the history of MCA fratricide.

For, in the words of George Santayana:

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

~ George Santayana (1905) Reason in Common Sense, volume 1 of The Life of Reason-