MCA Youth chief Wee Ka Siong has called for greater party unity to face the upcoming national elections in his opening speech at the Youth wing's annual general meeting (AGM) today.

"This is the final general assembly before the elections, where we will be fighting all out for BN and MCA in a battle which will determine our future.

mca youth agm 201012 wee ka siong 02 "Although these challenges are tough and difficult, we must be brave and work hard to achieve victory," he said at Wisma MCA in Kuala Lumpur.

He warned that the factionalism in the past must not be repeated as it was not easy to achieve the unity the party enjoys today, otherwise there would be "a terrible price to pay".

Making a reference to Hollywood's ‘The Avengers', he pointed out that the movie's four main superheroes achieved victory by playing their part.

"This is the same in MCA, each member must be given a task and they must carry out their respective roles.

The Avengers 2012 Poster "We may not need too many superheroes to save the party, but we need the spirit of superheroes," he said.

Wee, who is also a deputy education minister, urged the party central leadership to convince BN chairperson Najib Razak to announce the candidates chosen to contest in the general election earlier.

"(This would allow) those who are not chosen are given enough time to pacify themselves and give full cooperation to the party and to help those who are contesting," he said.

The MCA Youth AGM runs in parallel with the party Wanita wing's AGM today, while the party's central leadership will have its assembly tomorrow.

DAP slammed over hudud stand

Wee also slammed PAS for trying to set the Malaysia back to the dark ages with its Islamic state agenda, and ticked off its allies, especially DAP, for failing to censure their partner.

According to him, Europe spent hundreds of years to find the path to secularism, eventually ushering in the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, and their developed nation status today.

dap convention shah alam 080112 guan eng karpal "However, the mindset of PAS leadership remains in the dark ages and now they are trying to force our country to return to the very days that all other countries have fought hard to leave behind. This is something that deeply worries and saddens us," he said.

Worse still, he said, DAP had abandoned its principles in order to work with PAS in their attempt to take over Putrajaya.

"Karpal Singh's famous words ‘Over my dead body' with regards to the creation of an Islamic state have not been heard again.

"The new generation of leadership in DAP has changed their stand to ‘there is no need to fear an Islamic state as long as you don't steal or rob,' Wee lamented.

"We pity Karpal Singh, who is now DAP chairman, as he sits without any power, betrayed by (DAP advisor) Lim Kit Siang and (DAP secretary-general) Lim Guan Eng," he said.

Dearth of new ideas?

At a press conference later, MCA deputy president Liow Tiong Lai when asked denied that MCA was playing up the hudud issue, a state issue, because the party has no new policy ideas.

mca youth agm 201012 liow tiong lai “It is not true that we did not come up with new policies and new directions for the party.

“Hudud law is something very important because that will change the scenario of the whole country.

“We have to continue to deliver this message to the rakyat, to the (Malaysian) Chinese community, that this theocratic state is not acceptable to this country,” he said.

When it was pointed out that Sarawak United Peoples' Party (SUPP) had also played up the hudud issue but ended up losing half its state assembly seats during last year’s Sarawak election, Liow said state elections and general elections are different and cannot be compared.

He added that the Malaysian Chinese community can tell the difference between the two elections.

“This is not a state election. This is a national election to elect the federal government, where the federal constitution is of the utmost importance to the nation.

“We can’t allow PAS to amend the constitution... and implement such a policy in this country,” he said.

Liow also accused Malaysiakini’s journalist who fielded the questions on hudud, for allegedly defending PAS’ hudud.

“I think Malaysiakini prefers to defend this situation. So we would like to explain in detail and I hope you will report exactly what we say to your readers, so they would understand the difference between  a theocratic state and the present state of government.”

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