My dad was a founding member of an MCA district branch in the 1950s. In those days, he feverishly coaxed and helped the Chinese to register as Malayan citizens. He would have greatly lamented the effort if he were to know that the value of the citizenship had depreciated so much in the past three decades.

MCA used to be one of the tripartite partners of Alliance in pre-independence and the immediate post-independence days. What their leaders said then were taken into account and in many ways respected and accepted by all parties.

Not anymore, for not only did the new leaders waste much precious time in engrossing themselves in the infighting for power, they have since further relegated to become more at the mercy of the main party in the coalition. To put in a nutshell, they are but just miserable and hapless pawns of the main party in charge of the government.

Many of us have no choice but are forced to quit this once beautiful country where we were born and brought up. We cannot keep fighting a losing battle and leave our descendants at the whims of those in power. As our percentage of the total population shrinks at an alarming rate, our exodus is also growing at an equally frightening rate.

It is absolutely not an intelligent guess if MCA is going to be doubly squeezed and sidelined in the next general election. There isn't just any future in the hands of the ruling mediocrity.