Despite the mistake of publishing a controversial cartoon, Harakah has certainly set a good public example by admitting its mistake. Let bygones be bygones.

But, as writer YL Wong recalls in the letter , 'Glad for apology over cartoon, many Malaysians are still waiting for Umno to offer public apologies for its own previous inflammatory and racist statements.

In addition, the new MCA President Ong Ka Ting and his deputy Chan Kong Choy should publicly demand public apologies from Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Umno Youth and Kadir Sheikh Fadzir, to be published on the front pages of the Star , Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press , which MCA controls directly.

Otherwise, they have no moral standing to say anything on the case of the controversial cartoon.

MCA itself should also offer public apology to Malaysians for the following globally known shames they have brought to the nation, in particularly the Chinese community:

1) Chair-throwing riot at an MCA Youth meeting on Aug 3, 2001, attended by most of the top youth leaders like Ong Tee Keat;

2) Public allegations of triad connections within the party;

3) Political scandal of MCA woman chief Dr Ng Yen Yen who held Australian permanent residency while being a Malaysian senator;

4) Forcible take-over of Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press against the will of the majority in the Chinese community;

5) Allegations of corruption by former MCA central committee member Soh Chee Wen against his former mentor against just-retired MCA President Dr Ling Liong Sik and the latter's flimsy denials

If the MCA-controlled Star could publicly apologise to former chief justice Dzaiddin Abdullah for alleged misreporting of facts, surely MCA can offer public apology for all the scandals - financial, criminal and political - associated with its leadership, such as the recent arrest of its Kampar division secretary for alleged involvement in an international drug trafficking ring.