opinion

When Dr Mahathir Mohamad finally became the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia in July 1981, there were not many personal computers around. My father was still using an abacus to sort out the income and expenditure of our family's coffee shop, although my sisters had asked him to use a calculator instead.

A year later, when I went to Melbourne to pursue my matriculation, I was introduced to the most advanced computer of that time by a roommate. That 'machine' housed in the science faculty was huge and bulky. On its screen there were only two colours - black and white.

Yet, everybody was so excited and thrilled by it - the 'most modern' calculating device on earth. Then, in an English newspaper (July 16, 1982) which my father had sent from Malaysia, I saw a black and white photograph of our new prime minister working in his office with a personal computer - which was much smaller than the one in the science faculty.

Years later, I was told that the personal computer used by Mahathir probably belonged to the PC 386 generation. Since then, generation after generation of personal computers have come and gone. The screens today are definitely a lot more colourful as well.

And thanks to Mahathir, we have now built the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) and the largest paperless office in the world.

The setup

However, it seems that the premier's views, notions and observations of the Chinese community are still frozen in the era of that PC 386.That system operates on a very simple programme and logic.

'MCA/Gerakan vs.DAP', Chinese-language newspapers, the Dong Jiao Zong (the United Chinese Schools Committees Association and the United Chinese Schools Teachers' Association) and Suqui are the new variables in the configuration.

The programme's setup is as follows: MCA and Gerakan are 'good and moderate Chinese' on one pole whereas the Chinese with or supporting Dong Jiao Zong and DAP are 'bad and extremist guys'- on the other.

Meanwhile, the Chinese newspapers play the role of the balancer. A pivotal role capable of swinging the political mood of Chinese-educated voters.

Explained in this paradigm, the electoral defeat of Barisan Nasional (BN) in Lunas can only be attributed to DAP, Dong Jiao Zong and Suqiu working together with the Chinese newspapers which had set an 'anti-government agenda'.

Re-booting perceptions

Let us upgrade Mahathir's PC (perception of Chinese) system. In the Lunas by-election, it was Saiffudin Nasution, a candidate from Keadilan who benefitted from the swing of the Chinese voters to the opposition.

The Chinese newspapers, on the whole, had maintained political neutrality and were balanced both in reporting and presentation of opinions.

In balance, readers of the Chinese dailies saw DAP being criticised heavily by the MCA/Gerakan leaders as well as supporters of the Barisan Alternatif Front.

Also, while Dong Jiao Zong maintained its organisational neutrality in the by-election, many of its individual supporters were mobilised from all over the country to support the Malay candidate from Keadilan.

In fact, many young Chinese opposition supporters had argued in favour of a candidate from Keadilan and not for a non-Malay from DAP.

Their views, that of DAP, as well as the opinions of Umno, MCA and Gerakan supporting the MIC candidate were given equal and fair coverage by the Chinese newspapers.

True, the 'insensitive' remarks by the prime minister against Suqiu and other issues affecting the Chinese community were debated during the campaigns in Lunas. But let us not forget that Malay oppositionists had also empathised with their Chinese comrades and that the Chinese themselves, especially the younger ones, had other reasons to vote against the BN.

Issues such as the black eye of Anwar Ibrahim, the 'injustices' done to him and his family, the economic and financial conditions of the country, judicial independence and police performance, etc had been raised.

Pentium reality

Hence, the Pentium reality of Chinese politics is more colourful than the black-and-white PC 386 version of Mahathir's paradigm, which might have been valid and operational before the 1990s but not today.

In fact, an increasing number of Chinese youths who are pro-opposition are joining Keadilan. Even MCA grass-roots leaders, like former Negeri Sembilan state assemblyman Yap Ann Peng, had found Keadilan attractive enough to cross over during the Teluk Kemang by-election.

Others are Australian-trained lawyer Cheah Kah Peng in Penang, Taiwan graduates - Low Chee Cheong in Kuala Lumpur and Diong Chi Tzuoh in Johore - and Dr.Lee Boon Chye who graduated with a medical degree from the Universiti Malaya (UM) and later obtained a masters medical degree from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).

Older Chinese like former pastor and ex-secretary-general of the Christian Federation of Malaysia, Goh Keat Peng and his wife as well as businessman Ng Lum Yong, had co-founded Adil, ad later Keadilan, at the height of the reformasi movement on April 4, 1999.

DAP too is undergoing a generational shift. Its Youth chief and practising lawyer, Teng Chang Khim, who is also a Selangor state assemblyperson, can speak and write Bahasa Malaysia with a heigh degree of fluency.

The party's Member of Parliament (MP) for Batu Gajah, Fong Po Kuan is a former student of the Ipoh Methodist Girls School and a law graduate from the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM).While its former public services union chief, Ahmad Nor, is still a top leader in the party.

Better connections

So, what is this so-called 'Chinese chauvinism' that Mahathir and Umno strategists are talking about?

What about the other Chinese associations? Well, there are MCA, DAP, Keadilan and Gerakan members and supporters there as well.

Gerakan leaders like Dr Koh Tsu Koon who is the Chief Minister of Penang and Kerk Choo Ting, party deputy president, were leaders of Dong Jiao Zong before they joined Gerakan and the Barisan Nasional in 1982.

As to whether the Chinese newspapers are 'chauvinistic' or not, it is perhaps best for Mahathir, who does not understand Mandarin, to frequently consult more independent, reliable, trustworthy and disinterested sources like Said Zahari, who reads Mandarin exceptionally well.

Th premier should do this, instead of relying merely on reports made by those with vested interests like MCA and Gerakan ministers in the Cabinet.

JAMES WONG WING ON, is a former Member of Parliament (1990-1995) and a former columnist for the Sin Chew Jit Poh Chinese daily. He read political science and economics at the Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. While in Sin Chew , he and a team of journalists won the top awards of Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) for 1998 and 1999.