Liew Poon Siak, the now well-known founder of the newly-registered Kuala Lumpur Chinese Assembly Hall (KLCAH) is not new to public controversy in the Chinese-speaking Chinese community.

A self-confessed close friend of lawyer Mathias Chang, the Chinese political secretary of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Liew seems to be the only Chinese community leader who can 'unite' MCA, DAP, Chinese members and supporters of Keadilan, feuding Chinese non-governmental organisations and Chinese-language newspapers.

In September 2001, when Mahathir ( photo ) had alienated many Chinese Malaysians by publicly attacking their respected community leaders as "communists" or "extremists" and compared them with Islamic "terrorists", Liew organised a tea-serving ceremony in Putrajaya, with school children in Manchurian costume complete with pigtails and singing patriotic songs.

Conducting the ceremony himself, Liew dressed up like a 'Dr Fu Manchu. In press photographs of the event, Mahathir and his wife were seen smiling approvingly.

When the photographs were published in the Chinese-language newspapers, there was silent fury among those Chinese Malaysians relatively well-versed with cultural and political history.

Wearing Manchurian costume and pigtails, and dressing up like Dr Fu Manchu (or Susie Wong) are symbols of collective slavery, humiliation, subjugation and decadence.

Dr Sun Yat Sen, the father of modern China and an American-educated Christian, had dedicated the best years of his life to eradicating such attitudes at the turn of the 19 th century.

Liew took the flak for organising the event, bearing the brunt of condemnation by MCA, DAP and the Chinese press.

Influential non-governmental organisations like Dong Jiao Zong, Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia and Federation of Chinese Assembly Halls (Huazong) did not attend the ceremony.

However, not everyone blamed Liew, claiming that Chang may have suggested the idea and that he may have been only an over-zealous and unquestioning organiser of the event.

A year later, in October 2002, Liew was again embroiled in controversy over the switch in medium of instruction (from Bahasa Melayu to English) for science and mathematics in primary schools.

At the height of unhappiness among champions of mother-tongue education, Liew had organised a 'computer demonstration' in support of the Mahathir-inspired policy shift (since implemented).

Again, the main Chinese-based political parties and non-governmental organisations boycotted the event. Not long afterwards, Liew was decorated with the royal title 'Datuk'.

Fast-track registration

In recent weeks, Liew's name has appeared in the headlines again, when Chinese dailies reported that he had obtained approval from the Registrar of Societies (ROS) to set up the Kuala Lumpur Chinese Assembly Hall (KLCAH).

Opposition to the new body has been almost unanimous from the same parties that had criticised his earlier activities, albeit that they concede the principle of freedom of association.

MCA secretary-general Dr Ting Chew Peh made it to the front page of both Sin Chew Daily and rival Nanyang Siang Pau on Nov 15 to distance the party from Liew's project.

The speculation is that certain top MCA top leaders are using Liew to neutralise the influence of the independent and highly critical 80-year-old Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (SCAH) - in recent years, it is said to have been 'infiltrated' by supporters of opposition parties Keadilan, PRM, DAP and even Chinese sympathisers of PAS.

The conspiracy theorists want to know how Liew obtained approval from the very bureaucratic ROS within 20 days, while other applicants like the Parti Sosialis Malaysia have been waiting for years to be registered.

Moreover, individual MCA leaders like Tan Chai Ho have allegedly appeared to be soft on the KLCAH controversy. Tan is a MCA central committee member as well as a deputy minister.

For such reasons, observers feel that someone with enormous power has cut the red tape to enable KLCAH to be registered.

MCA has been fingered in the process, supposedly because one of its leaders, Chor Chee Heung, is deputy minister in the Home Ministry, which has oversight of the ROS.

Pak Lah's hand?

However, there are those - even among conspiracy theorists - who believe that MCA is not all that powerful or influential in the government machinery, especially in view of the party's earlier stance on the tea-serving ceremony in 2001.

This camp sees the hand of Prime Minister and Home Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi behind Liew's group.

SCAH deputy president Tan Yew Sing has claimed that the KLCAH registration was approved "a day prior" to Mahathir's retirement (or on Oct 30).

Last Saturday, Chinese-language reporters found Liew among those gathered at the Subang air force base waiting to welcome back Mahathir from his vacation in Spain and a speaking engagement in Japan.

Confronted with apparently hostile and critical questions, Liew replied that he was there only "to show support for a respected leader of the nation" and that they "did not say even a word to each other".

However, that has not saved Liew. The next day, umbrella body the Federation of Chinese Assembly Halls rejected KLCAH's application for membership. SCAH publicly claimed victory and thanked its broad-based supporters nationwide.

In any case, KLCAH is now a registered non-governmental organisation even if it is not accepted within the Chinese Assembly Hall fraternity.

Will Liew and his group accept the verdict of the court of public opinion in the Chinese community? If not, then there may be more confrontation and suspicion in the months to come.

JAMES WONG WING ON is chief analyst of Strategic Analysis Malaysia (SAM). Wong is a former member of Parliament (1990-1995) and a former columnist for the Sin Chew Jit Poh Chinese daily (now Sin Chew Daily). He read political science and economics at the Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. While in Sin Chew, he and a team of journalists won the top awards of Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) for 1998 and 1999.