Ong Ka Ting could have spared himself the humiliation in MCA’s election last Sunday had he kept his promise to retire from party politics.

Driven by personal ambition masqueraded as a mission to ‘save’ the party, Ong had leaders of clan and business associations, scholars and the Chinese press – Sin Chew Daily in particular – drum up the momentum for him. He went on to make the shocking announcement of seeking a comeback once the fresh party polls were confirmed, only to be defeated by Chua Soi Lek, his arch rival for the past few years.

mca egm election 280310 ong ka ting As many have observed, MCA under Ong ( left ) retreated into being a political party that was conspicuously absent from policy debate, ineffective in policy-making yet preoccupied with activities that were non-political in nature.

He launched the much criticised ‘Lifelong Learning’ campaign and put together a team of professionals to conduct courses on, inter alia , Chinese classic literature, Han Yu Pin Yin (Mandarin phonetic transcription) and even flower arrangements, while Wanita MCA was busy matchmaking !

MCA’s failure to exert political influence at the policy level was exposed to the full when Ong in January 2006 submitted a memorandum on behalf of non-Muslim ministers to the cabinet, calling for a review of Article 121(1A) of the federal constitution, which stipulates that civil courts have no jurisdiction over matters relating to Islam. It was shot down by the then deputy prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and Ong was made to retract the document ignominiously.

Ong and his counsel (who were apparently too moronic by half!) should have been told such a move would only make themselves look utterly ridiculous for in no other country – not even in Malaysia prior to that – would a member of a ruling coalition behave like an NGO. It only went to show that the party was helpless and useless when it came to policymaking.

Failure to prove itself an effective ruling party on an equal footing with Umno was, in fact, not Ong’s greatest sin. If anything, it was just a cruel joke. Rather, the biggest ‘achievements’ of the arguably most pathetic MCA president was his successful co-option of nearly all the clan and business associations in the 1990s, robbing the Chinese community of an important voice of independence.

Worked as image-makers

Basking in the easy conquer, he went on to consciously cultivate close ties with the Chinese press, with several senior journalists and writers serving as nothing but his designated spokespersons. A deputy editor-in-chief of Sin Chew Daily enjoys so close a rapport with Ong that he has never analysed the latter’s performance as minister and MCA president critically other than praising him to the sky.

After Barisan Nasional lost the Lunas by-election in 1999, then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad blamed the China Press and Nanyang Siang Pau for it. Sensing a golden opportunity, Ong and other MCA leaders mooted a takeover bid that went down very well with the former premier. The deal eventually turned the Chinese vernacular press industry into a mouthpiece for MCA, just like Utusan Malaysia and the New Straits Times for Umno.

When Margaret Thatcher waged an onslaught against the state and the unions, quite a number of the biggest names in British journalism cheered her on. As the late Hugo Young of the Guardian once wrote, none of them saw their reputation improved by that experience. To Young, it was a journalist’s job to constantly challenge the extension of arbitrary authority.

NONE Judging by this high standard, the Chinese press in Malaysia has failed its audience miserably, for many in the industry have willingly sucked up to successive MCA leaders and to Ong in particular. These seasoned journalists, writers and scholars worked in harmony as image-makers to consciously package Ong’s hollow rhetoric as the simulacrum of a great ideological style, culminating in a hilarious book called Ong Ka Ting: The man and his ideas .

This aside, Ong purposely groomed a handful of young TV and radio hosts, making it easier for him to access and manipulate the electronic media. Even call-in questions were filtered to ensure a smooth show.

Paradoxically, Ong ended up the victim of his own success. Showered with praises and misled by false applause, he was very much deluded by his own invincibility. He managed the party like a family business and put his brother Ong Ka Chuan and another trusted aide-de-camp in charge of party affairs.

There were serious allegations and issues of vice involving party leaders, phantom members, triads, loan sharks plus the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal but Ong did not lift a finger to address any of them.

Instead, he cunningly used the PKFZ imbroglio to engineer the downfall of several potential challengers in the party.

Removed from grassroots

Ong also stood idly by when the national crime rate and cost of living were rising and maintained his ‘elegant’ silence when the keris was repeatedly brandished at Umno’s general assemblies. When the political tsunami hit BN, it was already too late for Ong to salvage his ‘legacy’.

One, nevertheless, should credit Ong for setting an example by stepping down as president to take responsibility for the party’s electoral defeat in 2008 however reluctant he was at the time. But he misread the sentiments on the ground by seeking a return with the help of those still closely affiliated with him.

While it was Ong’s legitimate right to contest as a former MCA president, something unprecedented in Malaysia’s history, he obviously did not learn from his bitter lesson of the past. He again had writers, scholars and community leaders speak for him, oblivious to the fact that these people were far removed from the grassroots.

When the Merdeka Centre published an opinion poll that clearly indicated that Ong was trailing behind Ong Tee Kiat and even the ‘scandal-ridden’ Chua, Sin Chew Daily chose to ignore the important news. This trend was also confirmed by informal polls by TV news stations and on the Internet.

The last minute campaign by some to stop Chua on account of his sexual mischief only backfired onto the Ong faction as it again alienated those who believed Chua had been punished many times over and that was enough.

Now that the dust has settled, the new MCA leadership must ditch Ong’s NGO-like operation style and make policy debate and policymaking its core agenda or the entire party may risk being routed at the next general election.

JOSH HONG studied politics at London Metropolitan University and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. A keen watcher of domestic and international politics, he longs for a day when Malaysians will learn and master the art of self-mockery, and enjoy life to the full in spite of politicians.