By Syed Akbar Ali
The last time I attended an MCA forum was in 1989 or 1990 at the Dewan Lee San Choon at Wisma MCA in Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur. I forget what was the theme of that forum but it was conducted in English and it was full to the brim, standing room only.
Those were the great old days of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed's premiership. Things were well organised, all the BN component parties were strong and we were at the threshold of launching the country to a great era of growth and development in the roaring 90s. The MCA was getting to grips with itself (after the Pan El Fiasco I think) and the party was ready to lead the Chinese community.
This morning, 10 years later, I attended another MCA Forum on the UPSR and PMR examinations. The forum was held at the HGH Convention Centre in Sentul. It is a Chinese school with a huge convention hall. The program started quite on time (at 10:09am).
Although the girls at the registration counter said that some of the proceedings would be in English, for the 45 minutes that I was there, three speakers appeared and there was no English or Malay spoken. Since I could not understand them, I left the hall.
What I noticed was that there were hardly 300 people present (even when I left about 10.45am). You can see the pictures yourself.
In The first picture you can see the people all bunched up in front and to one side. More than half the hall was empty. The organisers had even removed a few rows of chairs earlier so that the hall would look a little less empty.
In the last picture below, I was seated a few rows from the front. You can see the empty rows of chairs before me. The only thing emptier now are the Anwar Ibrahim ceramahs. Did you know that in one recent ceramah by Anwar, hardly 30 people turned up. Malaysians are getting fed up of all the politicians.
I think the MCA is in serious trouble. They have lost the support of the Chinese. I dont know if all this support has gone over permanently to the DAP. As a result of which the BN is also in serious trouble. After I came back from the MCA Forum I had a visit from an old friend and well known newspaper man.
I shared my observations with him. He shook his head and said that our Prime Minister really believes that Merdeka Center Poll that was done recently which shows that the PM enjoys a 900% popularity rating or something really silly like that.
I dont believe in that Merdeka Centre Poll either. Either they made a mistake or they have some thing else going on up their sleeves. I think it is a lullaby - to lull the PM into a deep sleep. And I think that effect has been achieved. The PM is dozing on this one.
There is also the story that since the PM believes in superstitious things like lucky numbers and such, the General Elections will be held next year in 2011. Apparently the PM's 'lucky number' is 11. If that is the basis for choosing the date for a General Election that will most likely have a huge bearing on the future of this country, then maybe we should also employ Indian swamijis, Indonesian bomohs, Siamese dukuns, African witch doctoirs and such in our Government machinery. Lets join Nik Aziz in his sembahyang hajat mumbo jumbo.
Back to the MCA, they have to fix their party very quickly. Being squeaky clean and really committed to helping the Chinese as well as all other Malaysians is a really good start. The squeaky clean part is a bit difficult to handle for the MCA. It has always been known as the towkay partry. But who says that every towkay has to be a crook?
18 comments:
The main parties in the BN are ethnic based.
The 3 parties in the Pakatan Rakyat are idealogy based.
It might be that after more than 50 years of a coalition that has seen the balance of power in the BN being more berat sebelah than before (and the shenanigans arising therefrom), the rakyat have signalled that they are ready to move from communal based politics towards more progressive and inclusive policy making to advance the country forward.
The reality is that the economic wealth pie has stopped growing for quite a while now and hence, the relevance of these ethnic based political parties has been put to a severe test. And they are seen to be failing perhaps because of the money rather than in spite of it.
The latest World Investement Report 2010 indicates that Malaysia suffered the largest loss in FDI (81%) in the Asia Pacific region. We rec'd only a pathetic US$1.38 billion in 2009.
While you might infer that Brader Anwar is the cause of this loss (since you are so anti-Brader), please be rational. Anwar has not been in position to influence Malaysia's policies for more than 12 years now.
And one must ask why is Thailand is still favoured despite its political unrest earlier this year ?
Malaysia is stuck. Tak boleh gostan dan tak de minyak nak kejar jiran nya.
Meritocracy regardless of race is the key policy to adopt for the political parties to succeed together with justice for all.
How to fix the MCA when you UMNO bastards use the Chinese as your physical/political punching bag as in the Teoh Beng Hock killing and recently with that kurang ajar civil servant scolding Lim Guan Eng so as to underline UMNO's 'ketuanan Melayu' shit. Listen here UMNO, we know you people will have the most to lose if ever the country goes to hell. We are not blind to the fancy Mercs, BMs, Jags, Bentley's, multi-million ringgit mansions luxury clad wives which the UMNOputras have. If the UMNOputras want the Chinese to save the country then give the Chinese a fair shake and drop your bullying. If not, UMNO can go to hell for all we care but we will not allow UMNO to destroy our country. We have done everything for ourselves without government help and we intend to continue doing so. If UMNO thinks they can 'starve' the Chinese into submission they have another thing coming. Remember, the reach of the Chinese is global while that of UMNO is confined to Malaysia.
Tuan Syed
PRK Batu is a good testing ground for MCA , PGRM or MIC. Why the delay. PM Najib can crystallized his number 11 for next year GE. I doubt any positive result . Najib can forget the chinese votes and even the Malays. What else Indians.
Ini bukan tanah Melayu.
Cina dan pendatang ada hak samarata. Bagi lah semua kepada mereka PM Najib. Apa nak kisah awak kerja kuat dan berhak mendapat upah berbillion seperti Dolah Badawi yang membazir berbillion ringgit wang rakyat. Syurga anda didunia dan tak perlu buat apa-apa untuk akhirat.
Pak Lah's lucky number is 13. He won in his constituency in the 2008 Gen.Elections. BN? A debacle!
Based on his lucky number 11, Najib will win in Pekan. But will BN suffer the same fate as in 2008?
In all likelihod, YES! May be worse if he is still indifferent to or fails to act on a series of economic fiasco being unearthed one after another.
The Merdeka Poll Centre isn't entirely wrong. The popularity rating was for Najib, not BN least of all MCA.
11 is bad luck number for some. Its like 2 batu nesan apart on a grave. Signifies death. Najib be warned.
Dear Vinnan, I have the answer for the MCA: LEAVE the BN!
Dear Vinnan, I have a simple, 2-word answer for the MCA. Are you ready for it? Here it is: LEAVE BN!
Dear Vinnan, I have a simple 3-word answer for the MCA: LEAVE BN, NOW!
Purple Haze is right. If you look at the names of main component parties of BN, you can see:
united MALAY national organization,
malaysian CHINESE association,
malaysian INDIAN congress.
Come on, it's the 21st century. If you nurture young right-wing racists within your parties to become future leaders, I say it's better for the country that your parties are doomed - the sooner the better.
Let's form a new political party - MALAYSIAN Democratic Party (MDP). I vote Tuan Syed as our Finance Minister, or maybe even as PM?
K
somebody got access with pm should tell him not to believe any poll from merdeka center. They are anwar goons.
Purple Haze, stupid observation:
"The 3 parties in the Pakatan Rakyat are idealogy based."
What ideology? DAP is for Chinese, though claim to be multi-racial, PKR is for anwar cause and PAS, yes with Islamic Ideology, but of course the other two racist and chaotic ideology would not agree with PAS. PKR can only strive in chaotic state. Can these three parties of different ideologies really work together for all Malaysian. BN Dulu, Kini dan Selamanya. It's a tested coalition.Purple Hazy, your mind is really hazy and needs some cleansing.
to me, if one get caught on "dvd" and still want to play leader, whatever teams under him have not much conscience in nature.
and if these teams want support from the public, i guess at best they can get 20% because i believe 80% of the general public view conscience as important as life, as oppose to these shameless leaders.
if the west, commonly perceived by most people here as super open minded, but can't tolerate their leaders with comparable acts as done by our "dvd" leader, then don't dream that people here, commonly perceived as less open minded, can accept a tainted leader as easy as closing their eyes.
if a leader is already tainted, then don't expect miracle like getting supports from the general public. get axed or get lost, that's the political reality.
It is easy to understand why MCA/UMNO/GERAKAN/MIC will be doomed. The law of gravity is working. Even Genting will be doomed one day and myself will be six feet under the ground also. The once mighty Malaysia will surely be doomed also.
Why worry.
Not just MCA is doomed. Have you seen the latest news on the 81% drop in FDI for Malaysia in 2009? We are worst performing in this respect in the region - behind even Indonesia and Thailand. Guess this says a lot for investor confidence in the country.
In reply to VENAN don't call other people bastard, mind your language please. Write whatever you want but dont use harsh language
K, thanks for the vote :) I believe there already is a Malaysian Democratic Party with Wee Choo Keong being its founder and sole MP in Parliament. The BN model has served this country well for a long time (maybe until 2003). I believe it can still be fixed. Maybe there needs to be new members. Maybe BN should take in direct membership. Multi racialism and multi culturalism that gives everyone a "fair" chance (and keeping in mind Article 153 of the Federal Const on the Special Rights of the Malays) is the easiest, safest and best way to go forward in this country. We just need common sense, honesty, no corruption and hard work.
Cheers. SAA.
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