15 August 2010

MCA or DAP - which is more relevant?

There is another issue hotly debated by the political community lately. It’s the issue of DAP and MCA, both are Chinese dominated party even though DAP is actually meant for multiracial members and participation.

Both are legally registered political parties under the Act of Law and there is nothing illegal or immoral to be a member and supporter of any of those parties.

Historically the only Chinese dominated party which could work with the Malays (though UMNO)has been MCA the party which has been the strongest partner in the BN coalition. DAP is the party formed in late sixties and its multiracial party which is dominated by Chinese.

It’s only the politicking part of the politics that suggest each other as bad party and leaders. Historically MCA was made to contest in Chinese dominated constituencies during the PERIKATAN rule, but when the Chinese withdrew support from PERIKATAN in the 1969 GE, MCA was thought to be a defunct.

The Chinese went in the open in support of DAP and a newly registered Gerakkan formed by Syed Hussein Al-Atas.The Malays in the hinterland supported PAS and many UMNO stalwarts were defeated including Dr Mahathir Mohammad who lost in Kota Setar to the PAS spiritual leader Yusuf Rawa by around 1000 votes.

But after the MAGERAN administration in 1974, the birth of BN gave MCA another lease of strength. From then on MCA top leaders were sent out to be candidates since 1974 GE in Malay dominated constituencies as they were not confident of regaining the Chinese support.

From then on we saw MCA leaders contesting in Labis, Segamat, Bakri, Hulu Selangor,Alor Setar and many other constituencies. The idea of sending senior MCA leaders to contest in the Malay dominated areas was to ensure that there would be Chinese participation in the government. All the solid Chinese dominated constituencies were subjugated over by DAP.

In essence MCA was and is still depending on the Malay votes in order to keep the party to be seen as of consequence within the BN coalition.

Now let us see which party; MCA or DAP that is going to secure the support of the voters. MCA lost many seats in the last GE and was left with only 15 in Parliament. It is too telling that MCA is suffering the same fate with its senior brother UMNO.

The idea of MCA of pulling the support of the Malays goes flat as the Malays who massively voted against UMNO are also turning their back from MCA. The issue of moral and corruption against MCA is as serious as UMNO is facing. The PKFZ issue was the main issue that got MCA into trouble, and that is the issue which surrounds MCA of late.

The massiveness of corruption committed by MCA leaders in just one project is calculated as 12 billion ringgit and to complete the project would easily top up the cost to 16 billion ringgit.

MCA is now not supported by the Chinese any longer and it has ceased to be the party representing their struggles. DAP appeals the Chinese and with the stronger support of the Malays to PAS and a bit for PKR, DAP also appeals the Malays to some extend.

UMNO and BN will not be able to caste hatred feelings towards the party anymore since the pattern of political thinking of the Malays is changing swiftly. DAP is a better party than MCA to the complaining Malays in any GE as from now on.

To the Malays DAP is more suitable for them to support as the party is multi-racial and the idea of DAP fielding some Malay candidates will attract more Malays to believe in DAP more than MCA.

MCA is now playing racist issue in order to rally the Chinese support and openly showing the Chinese that the party is giving strong pressure all for the benefit of the Chinese.

MCA says, “Give me certain billion and MCA will bring back the Chinese support”. This is the melody that Soi Lek and his team sing day in and night out.

Just weeks ago MCA hit Perkasa, PERKASA chauvinistic, racist, credulous and many other superlatives labeled on Ibrahim Ali and PERKASA. MCA is now burning feeling of hatred towards it own UMNO big brothers.

MCA is blaming UMNO for the dismal performance of BN in the last GE and many quarters in MCA are thinking to detach the party from BN is order to retake the support of the Chinese from DAP.

I personally foresee that there will be some kind of shift of political equation with the current political ambiance. The ‘hijrah’ or change is seemingly eminent and that is natural phenomenon in any nation that desires a change in its political outlook.

Politics is management of human psychology and building of acceptable perception of the public is of prime significance. Nobody can tell how UMNO and BN is going to take position.

When UMNO was facing the same experience just after 1969, the party was still impregnated with dignified leaders who could call any leader, both from the opposition and the government bench to sit on negotiating tables and subsequently gave birth to BN. Two main opposition parties, PAS and Gerakkan were brought in the coalition and went through the 1974 GE with one symbol.

The strength of BN was untouchable and the strength was evidently captivated around the dignity and stateliness of leaders of all races in the coalition.

But all those glories are already oblivious as the succeeding leaders of BN especially MCA and UMNO did not handle and keep the mantle well. Some top leaders were starting to build up wealth for themselves and that culture slowly but surely became cancerous and the aches are now felt by concerned citizen.

UMNO was set up with nationalistic flavor but leaders of those periods until today have change the party to ‘taukeh’ flavor like MCA and the Chinese. There is no more nationalistic element in UMNO and the party slowly became exclusive club of the rich and the famous.

UMNO and MCA are rapidly deteriorating in support. Malays are looking at PAS as the main alternative party to support. Many professionals are joining or at least support the party purely for the survival of their generation.

The Chinese are looking at DAP as their political survival and they have no qualms of dumping MCA for their good own sake. Realizing the situation they (MCA) are very jittery and in their effort to gain the Chinese support MCA came out with statements and calls that irritate the Malays and UMNO. Some sounded chauvinistic and that is the actual attribute of MCA and this was only known by insiders among leaders of the components.

DAP is in convenient position as the Chinese are with them. The party is slowly gaining the Malay support as the tolerance of the Malays on the have evaporated.

DAP is also gaining the Malays to support as they intend to field in quite a number of Malay candidate in the coming GE. Fielding Malay candidates is not new. Fadzlan Yahya won the Pasir Badamar state constituency in Perak for 3 terms. Haji Asri is a pensioner with the Perak State Assembly when he was a 2-term State Assemblyman in Perak too.

The late Ahmad Nor won a parliamentary seat from Penang with DAP ticket. Hence putting up Malay candidates in the coming GE can actualize the party’s struggle for multi-racial participation of DAP. This move would certainly add up a reasonable percentage of support from the Malays for the party. AND it is not politically immoral for the Malays to support DAP with the latest intended arrangement. AND that is more 1Malaysia in actuality.

Apart from direct Malay support for DAP the party will also gain the support from the Malays via PAS and PKR, the other party members of PR. AND there will be a huge numbers of votes which will come from the disgruntled UMNO Malays in the ballot boxes.

Look at what has MCA decided in its just concluded Economic Congress. Just read the report on it which is widely debated and reported. It is nauseating.

10 comments:

joyce said...

Bro...you are saying another new 'bits for thought'

Good for us to debate.

joyce

schenker78 said...

RPK is going to reveal documents regarding corruption that has been covered up by MACC, will be revealed tomorrow...stay tuned..

Aspan Alias said...

schenker 78,

Selamat berbuka puasa bro.

schenker78 said...

If UMNO really want to win GE13 for certain, let Najib, Mudin resign together and kick out other corrupt BN leaders, as well as charge Taib for corruption...

The Interim President shall be Tengku Razaleigh and in one single swoop, majority of malays and most of non malays comes back to UMNO. Ku Li do have a very positive image just like Badawi when he first became PM...

Sadly, it will never happen here. It happened few months ago in Australia, but in Malaysia, the leadership is so PONDAN dan takut .....Samy value, najib, taib, mahathir all afraid of their past and present Sins....

Even I do not mind if najib or Rosmah screwing around, samy vellu with his 2 chicks, Chua soi lek with his oral escapades... thats all personal.....what matters is what they do with our taxpayer money...These ppl get F. Thats why we hate BN...and I cant accept a woman blown up like altantuya, even if a girl is prostitute or another criminal, thats not the way to treat a fellow human being....

vinnan said...

UMNO killed the MCA many years ago. I do not have empirical evidence but I do have many friends in the Chinese Guilds and Associations. With the exception of the old men and women who dominate the committees of these organizations the rank and file is largely pro-PR. This have NEVER been the case with the Chinese Guilds and Associations who were the strongest supporters of the MCA and the BN. Bear in mind that it was the Guilds and Associations who set up the MCA in the first place. Even at the height of the emergency the percentage of Chinese who supported the CPM was no more than 10% and even then it was confined mainly to a couple of dialect groups. Today, the situation is the total reverse. The Chinese vote is solidly behind the PR to the tune of 70% if the Hulu Selangor and Sibu by-election are any indications. More significantly while Chinese support for the opposition have always been significant in the Peninsula, what happened in Sibu is a very unusual phenomenon in terms of the scope and depth of the Chinese votes which went to the opposition. In Sibu, practically all the Chinese Guilds and Associations saw a big majority of their members voting for the opposition. MCA and SUPP will go the way of Gerakan come the next GE.

Then we have the most shocking electoral phenomenon in which a significant number of Malays are actually voting DAP. In the Sibu by-election the Melanaus/Melayus voted for the DAP in increasing numbers. Thus, it was the Melanaus who gave the DAP their narrow victory in Sibu and not the Chinese as UMNO wants the Malays to believe. The reality of Malaysian politics is such that UMNO can only lose power if enough Malays vote for the opposition. What then have been the key to UMNO's Malay votes for UMNO? The answer lies not with Ketuanan Melayu as UMNO/Perkosa want the Malays to believe. The real answer lies in the system of subsidies from food to education and the civil service jobs which makes it possible for many average Malays to have big families without having to break their backs. Unfortunately, for UMNO the oil money which make this system of subsidies possible is gone. For the uninformed Blocks L and M which AAB sold to Brunei is going to enable Brunei to double its oil production for the next 20 years. All Malaysians get to watch the oil gush and weep The gambling licence was Najib's trump card to allow UMNO to maintain the system of subsidies, give the UMNO contractors the never ending intravenous supply of projects the UMNO contractors need to stay alive and get Mahathir off Najib's back. Suffice to say, the best laid plans blah, blah blah, frequently do not work. If I were to be UMNO I would worry less about the Chinese vote and concentrate more on providing disadvantaged Malays the opportunity to acquire a decent life for themselves and their families. Somehow in all the screaming and keris waving over Malay special privileges the poor Malay bloke gets forgotten and gets screwed again in the name of Ketuanan Melayu with the most recent round of price increases for food and fuel. At the same time the non-Malays become collateral damage of the Ketuanan Melayu bomb.

Anonymous said...

That's good development when MCA is showing his true colours.(life-saving move)by manipulating racial issue.
All this while umno diehard supporters are instigating the malays(fence-sitter)voters by accusing DAP as adopting anti-malay and Islam policy.Throughout the Pro-Umno blogs, DAP is made "punching-bag" by pro-Umno bloggers.
With this latest development, there are losing their substance in attracting malay fence sitter and rural voters.

nick said...

Aslm Sir,

In my opinion, it's not the relevancy of the political parties that are the cause of these tectonic shift in the voters support but more on their increased maturity and understanding of their worth as the "King voter".

I think that Malaysian voter (be it malay, chinese, indian and others)are slowly but surely finding their value or to be more precise their power as a voter. The voters are more aware of the need to give support to those (politician and political party) that have their needs and well being at heart and not just as a lip service. And this is a very hard lesson for both UMNO and MCA. No longer do the voter dance to insincere tune of slogan and rhetoric. No longer does the voter believed that a political party and politician requires their unwavering and everlasting support (without proving their worth and value as the trustee of their support and loyalty). There's no more blind loyalty and support. All support and loyalty must be earned and the old belief of politician as a feudal master is dead.

There is no more feudal master in Malaysia because Malaysian citizen has come to the realization that they are the real owner and master of this country. The government and the monarchy too are answerable to the people because without the Malaysian people, the government and the monarchy have no reason to exist and more importantly NOT VICE VERSA! So the existence and relevancy of any political party depend on their service and duty to the voters and nothing else.

Any political party and politician who abandon their voter and negates their duty and service to the voters do so at their own peril as what UMNO and MCA are experiencing now! Both party and their politician are at a loss to understand their vanishing loyalty and support. Isn't that the truest evidence of their detachment from the voter? Isn't that the truest manifestation of their purpose in life is not for the voters but for themselves and themselves only? Only those who are blind to others' need and predicament cannot understand why they are losing support and loyalty. And to the advantages of PR and their politician, both UMNO and MCA (and all other parties in BN too) are still blind and worse, exhibit no sign of ever regaining their sight and becoming wiser.

Good day Sir and GOD bless.

Nick.

Aspan Alias said...

Bro nick,

Selamat berpuasa serta berbuka pada waktunya.

I am indeed impressed by your inputs of opinion that make me understand better and better about the whole political situation of the day.

Yes, our elected leaders nagate too far from their initial intention of dispensing their duties to their voters.

The voters have felt that they have been deceived too many times for too long years.

In actuality our voters especially the Malays have been tolerating too much of our leaders shenanigans and pranks to the extent that they feel exceedingly humiliated.

Our leaders have been taking our peoples' kindness as weaknesses. To make matters worst they become very crossed with the voters when they (voters) withdraw their support to these leaders.

I am an UMNO member and I wish to see UMNO does only duties that they can do well.

If they are good as an opposition I don't have qualm if the party become an effective opposition.

It is time that we must be decisive and get firmed by the decision.

Thanks nick and hope you don't relent in giving good inputs to this blog all the time.

zainal mahmud said...

Ha ha ha, kau ni suka nak menyakitkan hati orang kuat UMNO.

Tapi sungguh Aspan, DAP selama ini dimomok momokkan oleh media perdana sejak berpuluh tahun lamanya.

sekarang rakyat sudah faham kerana rakyat sudah belajar banyak pengalaman permainan politik BN untuk kepentingan peribadi.

schenker78 said...

where is morality of the AG???

RPK - "And now the AG himself bonking Head of International Affairs Division Azailiza Mohd Ahad (tudung lady)"

it seems a lot people in AG office knows of this affair between them....hmmm...so who is going to charge him>>>???

I suggest somebody set up cameras in hotels (make it in 3 angles at least) when they go overseas together....just like Chua Soi Lek....maybe we can get to see him in action as do his wife....Worldwide Best seller for 2011....

Just one advice to UMNO ministers and kuncu2, you can escape Mat Skodeng, but looks like RPK has been watching your bedrooms hanky panky....Cant wait for Musang Hassan video...