By now, the Life-long Learning Campaign launched by the MCA has assumed the facade of a full fledged political movement.You do read about all sorts of grand speeches made by all sorts of MCA dignitaries on all sorts of occasions, extolling the value of learning beyond one's school years.

A few months ago, the prominent columnists in the Chinese press Phua Yong Chiang sarcastically remarked that MCA, in initiating the campaign as its main agenda, has retreated from the political domain, and sought refuge in a campaign that is best left to the civil society. His comments drew quite a great deal of flake from the usual MCA faithful, and sparked off an ineffectual mini-debate in the Chinese press. Meanwhile, the campaign continues, at least among MCA members, on the surface.

Phua has got a point of course. The business of any political party is politics. The business of MCA ought to be the furtherance of the political and economic rights of their Chinese constituency within the context of our race-based politics, as their name and their history would suggest. Should not the thousands of Chinese guilds and associations be in a more appropriate position to promote a campaign like the Life-Long Learning programme?