MCA finds its relevance diminishing by the day

MCA finds its relevance diminishing by the day

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Posted by kasee &nb= sp;

Thursday, 03 April 20= 08

Perak MB= 's announcement on permanent land titles for new villages is latest blow

The Malaysian Insider

KUALA L= UMPUR, April 3 — It just gets worse for the Malaysian Chinese Association. When Perak Menteri Besar Mohamed Nizar Jamaludin announced yesterday that= his state government was prepared to give permanent land titles to new villag= es, party bigwigs looked as though the carpet had been pulled from under them= .

Still f= inding it hard to come to terms with the heavy defeat of their candidates in Election 2008, party president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting and others know tha= t their relevance to= the Chinese community dims with every enlightened initiative by the People's Alliance.

Rejecte= d by the community for their silent achievers' approach, the party has been experimenting with a more vocal approach, seeking the release of the Hind= raf 5 and taking Umno to task for its arrogance.

But her= e is the rub: appealing to a particular community or race group post-March 8 s= eems to be old politics next to the approach DAP-PKR-PAS, which is to appeal t= o all Malaysians, irrespective of race and religion.

So when M= ohamed Nizar of PAS said that Chinese in new villages will get permanent land titles, MCA politicians realised how dated their party looks and how holl= ow their warning about PAS being an Islamic party is going to sound from now= on. They are stumped. Paralysed.

The MCA= is dealing with political opponents who do not have the same hang-ups over religion and race that Umno, its partner in the Barisan Nasional, has. Ka Ting had to plead and seek the intervention of Prime Minister Abdullah Ah= mad Badawi before the former Selangor Menteri Besar Dr Khir Toyo agreed to gi= ve farmers in Ulu Yam a 30-year lease.

It was = the same in Perak where the MCA has to persuade MB Tajol Rosli to agree to gi= ve farmers in Bidor a 30-year lease. And even then the gesture was celebrate= d as a major concession given by the Barisan Nasional to the farmers.

Today, = offering a 30-= year lease looks half-hearted in comparison to what Mohamed Nizar annou= nced yesterday. No wonder MCA politicians are wearing worried looks. The party they are seek= ing to reform may not have much of a role to play in the new Malaysia.=

Worse y= et, trouble has already started to brew in the party, with former Health Mini= ster Chua Soi Lek firing a few shots at Ka Ting and suggesting that the party president was keen on building a dynasty.

Soi Lek= made some pointed comments against Ka Ting in an interview with Malaysiakini. = The Malaysian Insider understands that he received some negative feedback and some oblique threats of another scandalous tape being released on the mar= ket.

Soi Lek= had to resign as a minister and from positions in the party after a tape of h= im having sex with a woman in a hotel room was widely circulated. His supporters bel= ieve that Ka Ting was behind the release of the tape.

The for= mer Health Minister has not declared his intention to challenge Ka Ting for t= he party president's position but that only appears a formality. He is likel= y to rope in Ling Liong Sik and other MCA veterans in his last stab at party politics.

The fig= ht will be messy and could impair the slim hopes of MCA finding a place of relevance for itself in the fast changing political terrain.<= /o:p>