Amidst consistent attempts to portray alternative political parties as unruly, we now see photographic proof positive of violence by an Umno member against Guangming Daily photographer Koh Chun Seng. 

Shameful though this is, we've certainly come to expect this from Umno.

Yet just days after Chua Soi Lek saw fit to remind Malaysians not to take out their frustrations on Umno out on MCA, it was devastating to see how the MCA-owned Star newspaper spun the story to blame the victims and exonerate the perpetrator.

They quoted only the local Umno chief and National Union of Journalist president. The latter shamelessly blamed the organisers for 'not providing security', while the former said the incident was an 'accident'.

An accident?

If Umno takes to the streets in violence like it did in Ijok, is the Star going to report it as accidental? (if they report it at all) When the keris is drowned in blood, will we read instead about tomato-soaked daggers?

No effort appeared to have been made to get a quote from either the victim or the organisers to hear their version of the story. At a time when both MCA and the mainstream media are struggling to maintain the remotest semblance of credibility, one might expected a bit more sensitivity.

Any race-based organisation should be categorically rejected in favour of one that advocates the rights of all Malaysians; but if the Malaysian Chinese Association itself cannot speak out to protect a Chinese individual from physical assault by Umno members, exactly what purpose does the party serve?

While MCA throws around the specter of May 13 every chance they get, is May 13 not happening again and again around us all, covertly and silently, while nothing is being done to stop it?

It's not as if the photographer was an opposition supporter; he was just doing his job as an employee assigned to cover a DAP event, and for this he got a fist to the face. Does this merit the scorn shown by the Star report?

It is no longer a case of taking out frustrations of one against another. This case clearly shows that Umno and MCA are one and the same: one hand threatens and executes violence, the other provides cover and whitewashing in order to safeguard its own rice bowl.

MCA speaks relentlessly and emptily on 'defending the rights of the community'. Will they not defend Koh Chun Seng? Or Universiti Putra Malaysia students like Lee Song Yong and Yee Yang Yang, who face constant harrassment from the university? Or will they cower under the keris of Umno, as they always have?

If MCA can't even stand up and speak out for all Chinese, perhaps their supporters should abandon it for a party that is not only brave enough to step forward and defend the most basic of rights, but is willing to do so for all Malaysians.