YOURSAY 'Now, please tell me your vision and mission of wanting to become the president of MCA for the second time.'

Tee Keat guns for MCA presidency

your say, Yoursay Onyourtoes: I have friends who claim to have supported different presidents in MCA. Usually when such a conversation comes up, I would ask what motivated their support.

Almost without exception, none was able to give me a clear reason spontaneously. Eventually everyone would gravitate toward some inordinate and inconsequential reasons like; he knows me, he is a nice and friendly guy, he has done favours for me or my family, or I could leverage him at some point.

None has ever told me he supported that particular president because he had a clear vision, a right approach to Malaysian politics, or was an uncompromising protector of good governance, civil rights and equality for all citizens of this country.

Now, Ong Tee Keat, please tell me your vision and mission of wanting to become the president of MCA for the second time. I am not saying other candidates are better than you. They too, must answer the same questions asked of you.

Bash: Ong should explain what the 'new Ong Tee Keat' stands for. If it is the same old, same old, then don't bother.

Fair Play: Here is a possible scenario. Incumbent president Chua Soi Lek might be having a private arrangement with Ong. Deputy president Liow Tiong Lai appears to have betrayed both Ong and Chua and therefore the axiom, 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' could hold true here.

Chua has not declared his stand - whether he will offer himself or not as a candidate. If not, this might lend some credence. A combined force of Ong and Chua might tilt the balance in Ong's favour.

By not contesting but endorsing Ong, Chua would appear as a man of principle who has kept his word to move on after identifying someone with strong principles to lead MCA.

No doubt as part of the package, Ong must take care of Chua's son Tee Yong, and all of Chua's loyal supporters.

But the stark reality is that MCA is no longer relevant to the Chinese community no matter what they plan to do now and in the future. The majority of Chinese Malaysians jumped ship a long ago.

Multi Racial: Frankly, anybody other than Liow is good. Most of the people I have spoken to said if it was a choice between Chua and Liow, they will choose Chua. That goes to show how low these people think of Liow.

Now we have Ong who is a much better candidate compared to Chua, I expect every MCA member who loves the party to vote for Ong.

Awakened: For a two-party system to work truly and effectively, I would like to see BN and Pakatan Rakyat be like the Labour and Conservative parties of Britain, or the Democrats and Republicans in the United States - where parties with different ideologies exist side by side.

Even though MCA has sunk to its lowest point in history, it is my wish to see MCA recover with good leadership, and is able to tell Umno to change - though the chances of this happening are slim until and unless BN is defeated in the next GE.

Although Ong has his weaknesses, he is at least untainted. I hope to see a change in MCA so that BN can change. Even if Pakatan wins the next election, we can't be sure they can rule properly. We still need BN as check and balance. Only through this will parties improve.

This is how competition and evolution works. I hope MCA will have a democratically-elected president who can really change MCA for the better.

Anonymous_4031: With Ong in the running for the MCA presidency, will Chua also jump on the bandwagon?

Whoever vies for the presidency must fight for equal partnership in BN. To do so, the first step is to ask the PM to relinquish his finance portfolio and give it to MCA.

It may be a tall order; but having the courage to bell the cat is the first order of the day. Note that the finance minister, who is presently PM as well, announced yesterday that without GST, Malaysia will be like Greece, bankrupt.

But what Malaysians should ask is, who made Malaysia to become insolvent?

MCA's past leaders who were finance ministers, had a tight rein on finance: no free flights by PM's wife, no soft loans to raise cattle, and no purchase of submarines at huge cost.

In the state that we are in, Malaysians will be taxed more heavily to satisfy the lust for global travels of the nation's ministers and their wives. Is it not a waste of public funds?

Cala: In many ways Ong shares the same traits as Chiang Kai-shek, the supreme commander of Kuomintang who engaged with Mao Zedong in the China Civil War, but lost.

So what are the traits? First, both are fighters who enjoy the taste of blood. Second, both are self-centric. People of this nature care little about their followers.

Third, both think they are smart and fit to be leaders. Ong speaks, writes three languages (Bahasa Malaysia, English, and Chinese), while Chiang was known to be proficient in Chinese culture. But Ong cannot connect with his followers, while Chiang stayed too aloof from them.

Fourth, both lack grand goals for larger societal interests. Nothing in Ong's past record speaks of finding ways to solve problems of the community. In Chiang's case, he loved himself more than anything else and he represented a corrupted military regime in China. In sum, both are poor leaders.

ABU, Don't Play Play: Good for Ong. After winning (though realistically the chances are slim), you can then dissolve MCA, the running dog of Umno. Go straight to the ROS (Registrar of Societies) office in Sri Hartamas and put in your request to shut down MCA.

Sell Wisma MCA and its other assets (including The Star newspaper) and divide the booty equally amongst MCA members. They sure need the money to pay for the coming Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the return in Real Property Gains Tax (RPGT).

Shanandoah: Ong, you are in the wrong party. Race-based politics are things of the past. MCA is already history. They have sold themselves for filthy lucre to Umno Baru.

There's nothing much you can do. The Chinese are sick and tired of hearing of what MCA can do for them. Yes, it's best to close shop.

Happy Malaysian: MCA has been to the Chinese community a brother, sister, father and mother. They have lived under the MCA for decades and the Chinese leaving MCA was because of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim and DAP offering the Chinese a better deal.

Unfortunately the Chinese have found out that Anwar and DAP have not offered them anything, and trust me, they will be back in MCA's corner long before the next GE.

Those who write MCA off are stupid and emotional. They have to ask themselves if the DAP has been able to assist them to obtain a better life. Do they think that the Chinese have an alternative in DAP? Really?

Dont Just Talk: Ong will, anytime, make a better MCA president than Chua or the weak, indecisive Liow.

MCA delegates should vote out the present group of leaders, from the president down to the three vice-presidents, MCA Youth and MCA Wanita leaders, all of whom should bear full responsibility for MCA losses during GE13.

That is what leadership by example is about.

Ferdtan: This is the fact: MCA is in BN. BN is controlled by Umno with MCA having little or no say in the running of the government. Umno uses extremist political tactics of ‘race and religion' issue to hold on to power, and in doing so divide Malaysians.

It is further confirmed after their setback in the 2008 general election that BN, particularly Umno, cannot change or reform. Therefore, to revolutionise the whole rotten system of the government, BN (Umno) has to go. It is ABU (Anything but Umno).

Now MCA, a component party of BN is having a party election. The former president Ong Tee Keat wants to contest in this apparently heated contest for the top post.

Will it matter much to the Chinese at large if Ong, incumbent president Chua or the ambitious deputy, Liow, win? The answer is a straight no.

You can have the original Ong, or now, the ‘new humble Ong Tee Keat', it makes no difference to most as long as MCA is still sleeping with Umno.

To sum up, personalities don't count. Even if the popular Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng or say Anwar Ibrahim (if MCA allows a non-Chinese to contest) in MCA, we still will reject them.

However, if you put a donkey to contest with the agenda of pulling MCA out of BN to join Pakatan Rakyat, then the donkey will win hands down.

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