DAP should state its stand as to whether it will use Professor Dr Abdul Aziz Bari for his academic experience, or whether, the opposition is leveraging on his media persona gained from commentaries on the federal constitution published on online news portals to attack MCA under the guise of academic articulation and credentials.

After all, the political rhetoric of other DAP big-wigs like Superman Dr Hew Kuan Yaw or Nga Kor Ming are uncouth despite being a PhD holder in History or a lawyer respectively, and Dr Aziz Bari comes in handy to shore up DAP’s staged antics.

Moreover, DAP should sincerely clarify whether Dr Aziz Bari was recruited (among its other well-known Malay public figures enlisted) to prop up its debunked image as a multiracial party when for too long, DAP’s delivery to the masses has only incited emotional anger among the Chinese community to turn against Barisan Nasional, thus causing Malaysian Chinese to be by-an-large relegated to the opposition rather than being part of policy making with the executive.

DAP should also cross-check on whether Dr Aziz Bari’s allegiance will remain or will he Rocket-land himself with another party, probably with a religious-encoded one, should his fortunes crash with the Rocket, considering that he betrayed DAP’s ally PKR to Rocket himself to DAP, barely two years after being defeated for the Sabak Bernam parliamentary seat despite contesting under PKR.

Drafting the federal constitution for Malaya to achieve Independence was no easy overnight feat, but entailed detailed negotiations and considerations to ensure the rights of all ethnicities were protected. It was not a situation of a winner-grabs-all, but each party made compromises in the larger interest to be self-governing and build consensus.

The Reid Commission met 118 times between June and October 1956, and received 131 memoranda from various individuals and organisations, including proposals from Alliance Party consisting Umno, MCA and MIC, and the Conference of Rulers. Chairing the Reid Commission was Lord William Read, and other members were also Constitution experts or top Justices hailing from the United Kingdom, Australia, India and Pakistan.

Therefore, his mocking tone against MCA and Umno on the drafting of the Malayan federal constitution like as if the supreme law of the land has plunged only the opposition into a quagmire which Pakatan is unable to burrow out from is mala fide.

CHAI KIM SEN is MCA publicity bureau chairperson and MCA deputy national organising secretary.