by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjong, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Tuesday, June 21, 1994:
MCA Youth under Chan Kong Choy is the most weak-kneed in history
MCA Youth under the leadership of Datuk Chan Kong Choy is the most weak-kneed in history.
Although Chan Kong Choy had vociferously denied his own earlier announcement that the 51-man MCA Youth delegation in its dialogue with the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mo-named, last Tuesday had raised the issue of quotas for bumiputeras, nobody believes Chan Kong Choy.
This is why Utusan Malaysia in an editorial yesterday singled out Chan Kong Choy and MCA Youth for attack.
The Utusan Malaysia editorial even called on the MCA President, Datuk Dr. Ling Liong Sik to correct Chan Kong Choy and that the latter “janganlah terlalu ghairah mahu menjadi hero di kalangan masyarakat Cina sehingga lupa sejarah dan melukakan perasaan orang-orang Melayu”.
Chan Kong Choy’s backdown from his announcement last Wednesday which attracted newspaper headlines about MCA Youth asking for the scrapping of the quota system is most pathetic and humiliating.
What else would Chan Kong Choy and MCA Youth dare to do in future, with the experience of such public humiliation in the past few days?
There is no doubt that under Chan Kong Choy, MCA Youth will be the most weak-kneed in MCA Youth history.
May be the most honourable thing is for Chan Kong Choy to resign as MCA Youth Leader.
MCA under Liong Sik has become the most marginalised party in MCA history
The development of MCA Youth is not isolated, but reflect a larger development of the marginalisation of the role and place of MCA in Barisan Nasional.
Although MCA has four Cabinet Ministers, these four MCA Ministers cannot wield any influence whatsoever at the highest level of decision-making in the Barisan Nasional, whether in Government or Cabinet.
The marginalisation of MCA leaders in the Barisan Nasional government has been compounded by the fact that the present MCA Ministers have not distinguished themselves as competent and efficient Ministers. In fact, many of them have often acute embarrassment and humiliation to the Barisan Nasional Government because of bunglings and failures in the Ministries under MCA Ministers – most notably Transport and Housing and Local Government.
The recent MCA General Assembly is a good illustration of the acute marginalisation of MCA leaders and politics in Barisan Nasional. One of the eight resolutions passed by the MCA General Assembly declared its support for the National Development Policy – which was passed by Parliament three years ago!
In fact, the resolution passed by the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Chamber of Commerce meeting on the same day was definitely more relevant and pertinent to the problems of the times. One of the 14 resolutions passed by the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Chamber of Commerce on Saturday called on the government to take a serious view of the blatant, abuses of the 1991 Land Acquisition Amendment Act and to check these abuses.
No one in MCA, MCA Youth and Wanita MCA General Assemblies, whether from the leadership or from the floor, had spoken about the blatant abuses of the 1991 Land Acquisition Amendment Act – which the DAP MPs had warned about during the Parliamentary debate in 1991.
This shows the irrelevance and marginalisation of MCA leadership and politics.
What is even more laughable is that the MCA had to shorten its traditional two-day General Assembly to one day and end summarilly on Saturday, because UMNO was holding a special Delegates’ General Meeting the next day to amend its party constitution on money politics.
When MCA dare not hold its traditional two-day Annual General Meeting because this would clash with UMNO’s special delegates’ general meeting, how can MCA leaders’ claim to have self-respect, party dignity or autonomy?