MCA has been urged to take a clear-cut stand on various national issues and to echo the voices of Chinese community at a special briefing the party will hold tomorrow for its leaders at all levels.

In making the call, former MCA vice-president Gan Peng Sieu said he felt the party has failed to address the real issues related to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) fiasco and the RM2.6 billion donation received by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Gan said this to Malaysiakini yesterday, when asked about his expectations at the special briefing party secretary-general Ong Ka Chuan announced would take a uniform stand on the recent street rallies and other issues of concern to the party.

Gan ( on the right in photo ) said he expects the party to single out the rallies, the move by a Youth division to cut ties with Najib and the calls to eliminate vernacular education as though these are all the problems faced by the MCA.

"I expect the party to condemn the call to eliminate Chinese education. I expect the party to say on Thursday that the Bersih 4 and the red T-shirt rallies were no good to country’s economy," he said.

However, Gan said, the party now faces a more pressing matter - the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion donation scandal, which led to a series of events that need to be resolved promptly.

'A long overdue meeting'

"The problem is that our leaders think they have made a firm stand on these issues.

"But, most of our confused grassroots cannot answer a simple question as to whether the prime minister should quit when the leaders bump into the rakyat at coffeeshops. They are rained with curses and they cannot hold their heads high.

"Being a central leader myself, I sometimes fail to comprehend this situation," Gan said.

"Tomorrow’s briefing is indeed long overdue, for there has been an urgent need for us to discuss the core problems facing the party and our community," he noted.

The leadership should respond to questions from the grassroots on the sacking of Muhyiddin Yassin ( photo ) as deputy prime minister, the promotion of the Public Accounts Committee members into government and the disbanding of the special task force investigating 1MDB, Gan said.

"The party should also seriously look at cooperation among BN member parties. Cooperation among the BN parties has deteriorated from the state of 'inaffective' to 'failure' after Najib said they 'agreed to disagree' on the Sept 16 red shirt rally," he said.

The BN parties would be weakened if the cooperation among them continues under such circumstances, he warned.

"The party is now standing at the edge of a cliff. It's a matter of wanting to jump down or making a U-turn," Gan said.

MCA was caught in a dilemma as the Bersih 4 rally, in which Chinese protesters formed the majority, is read as a sign that MCA would continue to perform poorly in the next general election.

The party is also seen to be "too weak" to stop its allies from sanctioning the Sept 16 rally, which was marred by racist elements.

'Briefing would be a waste of time'

Ong only said that MCA would take a uniform stand on public gatherings.

If given opportunity, Gan vowed, he would demand that the party leaders address the bigger issues, such as the 1MDB issue and political donations, so that the grassroots would have a clearer view.

Two MCA grassroots leaders, who spoke to Malaysiakini on the condition that they not be named, said they would not attend the briefing as it would be a waste of time.

"The hudud briefing held (in March) has proven this. We were asked to attend the briefing and there we only listened to all the familiar speeches we have read in the newspapers," a leader from Selangor said.

The top party leaders, the division chief said, were only forcing their views on the grassroots, instead of giving them equal opportunity to ask questions and express their views.

"So, I will not attend another lecture lesson," he said in taking a jab at the MCA leadership.

Concurring with the Selangor leader's view, a branch chairperson in Kuala Lumpur said the party was only holding the special briefing to please the prime minister and to show solidarity with Najib.

"Trust me, they will just tell the members to keep calm and to observe the developments," he said.

"The grassroots want the party to reflect the community's sentiments to the BN leadership and punish those who made racist statements," he said.

"As far as I know, many of the grassroots will not show up at the briefing," he said.

The branch leader admitted that he had attended the Bersih 4 rally, as he personally felt the explanations given by Najib were not tenable.

He also views the BN and the government as holding double standards in dealing with Bersih 4 rally and the Sept 16 red shirt rally that was called to uphold Malay dignity.

Malaysiakini has yet to be able to get in touch with Ong and party deputy president Wee Ka Siong for their responses to these views from Gan and the grassroots leaders.

MCA Youth chief Chong Sin Woon ( photo ), when reached, was reluctant to comment on the briefing.

"This is not a briefing to discuss MCA's status in BN," Chong said.

"This is merely a normal briefing that is held on annual basis," said Chong, who is deputy education minister.

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