With reference to Eileen Kong's letter 'Paper takeover by MCA? Big deal!' (May 23), maybe the writer is too young an MCA member to remember the bitter and disgraceful history of her party.
For her to say that the takeover is not political but only "purely commercial" is difficult for any thinking adults to believe.
Even the Deputy President of MCA Lim Ah Lek had expressed his opposition to the "purely commercial deal". In both the China Press and malaysiakini , Lim has reminded the Chinese community of the MCA-controlled Malayan Thung Pao fiasco in the late 1970s and 1980s.
The Thung Pao then was owned and operated by MCA's ruling faction to discredit and smear not only the opposition like DAP and PAS (no Keadilan then), but also dissenting individuals and groups within the MCA, like former president Dr Neo Yee Pan who opposed the merger of politics and business.
Dr Neo was dethroned by Dr Ling Liong Sik's faction which includes Datuk Lee Lim Sai in a bitterly fought intra-party power struggle. Since then, MCA has been controlled and manipulated by some very political big businessmen as their main lobby group in the Umno-dominated government. Huaren Holdings Sdn Bhd is thus the political as well as the investment arm of the group.
As I still remember, the Thung Pao was so one-sided and biased that the Chinese community finally decided to boycott and stop reading it, like how the Malays now react to Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian .
The intellectual quality was extremely low because space was given to only factional and partisan news and views. Finally, Thung Pao went bankrupt and was placed under receivership for many years.
Thung Pao was also used to discredit DAP and particularly Lim Kit Siang through black propaganda based on concoctions and falsehood. Perhaps DAP and Lim Kit Siang can come out to testify to that Dark Age of MCA propaganda running amok.
It is already widely speculated that once MCA and Huaren Holdings take over Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press , MCA would appoint its propaganda chief Datuk Wong See Wah to be the managing director, much like the appointment of Abdullah Ahmad who is the managing director of the New Straits Times now.
Another very senior Chinese journalist who has been very close to MCA now working in Sin Chew Jit Poh would also be seconded by the Sin Chew boss who is a Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) member to run Nanyang Siang Pau or/and China Press .
If the plan is carried out, then the Chinese newspapers are completely monopolised by a group of friendly politicians aligned to two Chinese parties in Barisan Nasional, operating under one ideology, namely 'Chinese unity'. How dangerous!
To accuse opponents to the takeover as "communist" and calling for their detention without trial under the Internal Security Act (ISA) should be condemned by all sane Malaysians and the international community.
In Western countries and even their market economies, there is not only the Freedom of Information Act but also laws to break-up business monopolies (the Microsoft case in the US is a classic) and to prevent the concentration of media ownership to the detriment of public interests and the public's right to information and to exercise free speech.
As for the writer's argument that opposition should earn enough money to run their own newspapers better, any Form six or above Malaysian can easily knock out the argument with nary a sweat. I leave it then to others to have their say.
