The Malaysian Chinese community had changed in many aspects over the years and thus people should be encouraged to voice out different ideas and opinions instead of just being represented by a handful of dominant organisations, said a veteran community leader.

Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall outgoing president Ngan Ching Wen said this yesterday at the associations annual general meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

From my experience, a diversity of opinions and ideas is better than one dominant voice, he said while addressing more than 200 representatives from member organisations under SCAH, the umbrella group to hundreds of Chinese guilds and associations in Selangor.

Based on the cultural, demographic and educational backgrounds of the Chinese community today, it is impossible for one particular organisation to claim to be representing the whole community, he added.

Ngan, a prominent business figure, who had become the helmsman of the association since 1998 is retiring from his post after two terms, the maximum allowed under the SCAH constitution.

Malaysia has a total population of 22 million people. Malays form the largest ethnic group at about 55 percent of the population, followed by Chinese (26 percent), Indians (seven percent) and others, mainly indigenous groups (12 percent).

In retrospect, the leader said he had encountered many memorable incidents during his tenure as the associations chief, among them are the drafting of Suqiu or the Malaysian Chinese Organisations Election Appeals which SCAH was actively involved in.

The day when Umno Youth deputy chief (Abdul Aziz Sheikh Fadzir) led his people to create chaos at the SCAH had indeed marred the democracy in Malaysia.

Umno Youth had demonstrated outside the SCAH which housed the Suqiu committee then and had threatened to burn down the hall if the appeals were not retracted with an apology.

For the interests of all

What we did was just to express our feelings and this should have been taken into consideration by the government instead of being suppressed. Furthermore, Suqiu was for the interests of all the people, he said.

The 17-point Suqiu was endorsed by thousands of Chinese organisations and was presented to the government on the eve of the 1999 general election to urge for a fairer and more just Malaysia.

Though the government had initially accepted the document in principle, Suqiu was later labelled as extremist and likened to communists by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

It was accused of fanning racial sentiments as one of the appeals called for the abolition of bumiputra privileges which were introduced by the government following ethnic riots in Kuala Lumpur in 1969.

Another unforgettable incident, according to Ngan, was the takeover of two Chinese dailies by MCA last May.

We contacted more than 200 Chinese organisations in the state within 48 hours and came out with a stand to oppose the deal because we did not want the dailies to compromise on their editorial independence, he said.

Despite the strong public protest, Nanyang Press Holdings, publisher of Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press , was acquired by the political partys investment arm in a RM230-million deal then.

Abolish permanent status

On a different matter, Ngan said it was practical to abolish the status of 22 SCAH permanent committee members as the association had obtained the mandate from a majority of its members at an extraordinary general meeting three years ago.

The permanent members can influence the associations stand on many issues and since we claim to be defending the interests of Chinese community, how can we then let those who were not elected through proper procedures to assume such a heavy responsibility? he questioned.

For SCAH to progress, we must ensure that the internal mechanism is democratic and that our members truly represent the different segments of the Chinese community, he added.

The SCAH committee has 45 members, 17 of whom are elected and six appointed. The rest are permanent members representing 22 organisations which helped found SCAH 70 years ago.

The move to abolish the status of permanent members had met with strong opposition from many of them who cited historical reasons for their objection.

The pro-reform faction backed by Ngan had swept all 17 positions as committee member at the SCAH annual general meeting yesterday when the biennial election was held.