I have followed with some disgust and disappointment the MCA fiasco, which reminded me of a story of a clam (Dr Ling Liong Sik) and a crane (Lim Ah Lek) and the fisherman (Dr Mahathir Mohamad).

The crane, who bit the clam, in turn had its beak clamped by the clam - both refused to release. Finally the fisherman arrived and saw them caught in a deadlock. Happily he took them home, cooked both of them and had a wonderful meal.

This is what MCA has done - sold out the rights and dignity of the Chinese community. And it is o­nly Chinese Malaysians who are to be blamed. As correctly said by Kim Quek, there would be no Merdeka without MCA - it was the party that provided Umno with financial support as the community believed in the guiding light of Bapa Malaysia, the late Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Unfortunately, both MCA leaders then, Tun Tan Cheng Lock and Tun Leong Yew Koh could neither read nor write Chinese as they were Baba Melakans, and knew little of Chinese culture.

Those are bygone days and Umno has re-written history by chosing to ignore and forget ( kacang lupakan kulit ) the support. Dr Mahathir's Chinese friends in Kedah were supportive of his return during when he was abandoned by his own party because they believed in his sincerity. But has he returned their support? Maybe some like Eric Chia, the Perwaja kingpin in Melbourne cashing in his million dollar chips at the Crown Casino.

MCA can rekindled its past dignity and begin to draw true support from Chinese Malaysians by opting out of the coalition group and remain independent. Let the Chinese decide who to vote for and which party it should ally with - even PAS. Continuing with Umno is a death knell.

Remember the last election when MCA supported Barisan? What was the benefit? Meritocracy in education? That is a joke.

Let Umno fight its own battle with the fundamentalists for they brought it o­n themselves with all the scholarships pouring into universities in Kabul, Teheran and Cairo. By nurturing the 'true' Islamic teachings, they are now grabbling with the products of such universities and the material wealth of the elite is now threatened.

The Chinese are well advised to look o­n, and as o­nlookers we must also be fence sitters.