by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Sunday, 30th June 1991:
Announcement of a OPP2 Monitoring Committee headed by the four MCA Ministers the biggest political joke of the year
The announcement that the MCA has set up a OPP2 Monitoring Committee headed by the four MCA Ministers qualifies to be the biggest political joke of the year.
If it is true, such an important statement would have been made by the MCA President, Datuk Seri Dr. Ling Liong Sik, or the Deputy President, Datuk Lee Kim Sai, or one of the MCA Ministers, and not by someone who is not qualified to be a Parliamentary candidate and is only a mere State Executive Councillors in the person of Ong Ka Chuan.
At the MCA Youth national seminar on the OPP2 on June 16, Liong Sik never mentioned anything about a MCA OPP2 Monitoring Committee headed by the four Ministers, nor did he say anything about it when he seconded the Prime Minister’s motion in Parliament the next day.
All Liong Sik said at the Youth seminar was that complaints by the public about unfair implementation of the OPP2 could be sent to the MCA which would be discussed by the MCA Presidential Council, and if necessary, taken up with the Government.
Discussing complaints at the MCA Presidential Council is very different from setting up a specific OPP2 Monitoring Committee headed by the four MCA Ministers.
When was this decision to set up a MCA OPP2 Monitoring Committee headed by the four MCA Ministers taken by the party?
Datuk Lee Kim Sai has admitted that when the MCA Presidential Council is away overseas, the MCA Presidential Council is suspended – and presumably the MCA Central Committee as well.
As Liong Sik left with Dr. Mahathir Mohamed for South America immediately after the first day of the Parliamentary debate on the OPP2 on June 17, and he was not returned since then, it is not possible that the highest MCA policy-makings body could have met to decide on the establishment of a MCA OPP2 Monitoring Committee headed by the four MCA Ministers.
No wonder there are MCA Ministers who are surprised by the announcement of such a ‘phantom’ MCA OPP2 Monitoring Committee.
This so-called MCA OPP2 Monitoring Committee headed by the four MCA Ministers exists only in the fevered imagination of one MCA official, Ong Ka Chuan.
It is understandable why the Ling Liong Sik camp in the MCA leadership has to create the impression that they are very serious about checking deviations in the implementation of OPP2.
This is because the MCA Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Parliamentary Secretary and MPs had voted against the DAP proposal in Parliament for the establishment of a Royal Commission to monitor the implementation of the OPP2 and the National Development Policy.
In its desperation, the MCA mainstream faction had to try to impress the people by saying that the MCA is very serious to the extent of establishing a high-powered MCA OPP2 Monitoring Committee headed by the four MCA Ministers – when there is no such thing.