MCA can never hope to have any effective voice in the government so long as the MCA leadership and Tan Koon Swan in particular is bogged down by the Pan El crisis

Speech by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Kota Melaka, Lim Kit Siang, at the MP Federal Territory State Committee meeting at Pudu DAP branch premises on Friday, Dec.27,1985 at 8p.m.

MCA can never hope to have any effective voice in the government so long as the MCA leadership and Tan Koon Swan in particular is bogged down by the Pan El crisis

The Tan Koon Swan MCA faction, in the MCA party elections, proclaimed a ‘Programme for Revitalisation’ for the MCA and the Malaysian Chinese community on Nov.21,1985,which pledged that if the Tan faction is elected, the MCA leadership would work towards ‘effective government representation’ in the policy formulation process of the government whether in the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council, the Cabinet or the State Executive Councils.

But after over a month of the Tan Koon Swan MCA leadership, it is clear that the MCA had never had such weak and ineffective new leadership in the MCA party history.

This could be seen by the fact that after over a month after the MCA Party elections, where the Tan Koon Swan faction won an overwhelming victory in the party elections, the Tan Koon Swan leadership had not dared to ask the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, for a reshuffle of the MCA Ministerial and Deputy Ministerial posts. Tan Koon Swan himself even dare not ask to enter the Cabinet himself although the Tan Koon Swan MCA faction party election manifesto talks about ‘effective government representation’.

MCA can never hope to have any effective voice in the government so long as the MCA leadership, and in particular Tan Koon Swan himself, is bogged down by the Pan El crisis.

The Pan El scandal has so weakened the hand of MCA leadership that it dare not put pressure on the UMNO leadership on any issue, for it had to depend in the final analysis on the government to help bail out Tan Koon Swan, whether directly or indirectly by giving government blessings and encouragement to UNICO to salvage Tan Koon Swan.

It is indeed most ironic and a reflection of the unequal relationship between UMNO and MCA that in the BMF scandal, the MCA could not take advantage of it to strengthen its position vis-a-vis UMNO, but UMNO could take advantage of the Pan El crisis to strengthen its power and influence over MCA more decisively.

The latest report from Singapore that four more Pan El subsidiaries have been placed in the hands of receivers and managers highlight the gravity and complexity of the Pan El crisis, which had cause the three-day suspension of the Kuala Lumpur and Singapore stock exchanges, and wiping out $10.8 billion of the total shares value in Malaysia on the day Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange resumed trading.

The MCA leadership, and in particular,the new President, Tan Koon Swan, has failed the Malaysian Chinese community for up till now, they have refused to let the people know the full story of the Pan El crisis. No wonder, the MCA leaders are unable to press for the publication of the Ahmad Nordin Inquiry Committee final report into the $2.5 billion BMF loans scandal in Hong Kong.

The new MCA leadership should hold an emergency meeting to discuss the Pan El crisis, and how the MCA has been made more ineffective and impotent by Tan’s personal involvement in the Pan El crisis.

Instead, the new MCA leaders seem to be more interested with building up their new political empires. I am told, for instance, that the new MCA leaders are spending a lot of time and money renovating the MCA Headquarters, where every floor that is occupied by the MCA is being removated, and the express could be as high as a million dollars.

Call on Datuk Dr. Ling Liong Sik to secure approval of the transfer of Foon Yew Fourth Chinese Primary School to Taman Pelangi, Johore Bahru

The inability of the MCA Ministers and Deputy Ministers to resolve the problems of the Chinese community, as compared with the performance of UMNO Ministers and Deputy Ministers, is the most shameful aspect of the Barisan Nasional government.

I call on the MCA Ministers and Deputy Ministers to prove their worth and get the various problems and issues affecting the Chinese community resolved. The latest question is the transfer of Foon Yew Fourth Chinese Primary School in Johore Bahru to Taman Pelangi as the present school site is requisitioned by the government.

The government’s proposal that the Foon Yew Fourth Chinese Primary School share the premises of Foon Yew First Chinese Primary School is completely unacceptable. The Deputy Education Minister, Datuk Dr. Ling Liong Sik, should use his influence as Deputy Education Minister to secure immediate approval for the transfer of Foon Yew Fourth Chinese Primary School to Taman Pelangi in Johore Bahru.

This is a matter which concerns not only the people of Johore Bahru but all Malaysians concerned about the future of Chinese education throughout the country.

Datuk Dr. Ling Liong Sik has been disappointing the people with regard to his tenure as Deputy Education Minister. He should not let the people down again on the issue of Foon Yew Fourth Chinese Primary School being transferred to Taman Pelangi.