MCA’s president Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek really got himself in hot water following his call for gradual removal of the 30 percent bumiputera equity in the recent Chinese Economic Congress. His proclamation expectedly received onslaughts of protests and remonstrations from Malay leaders particularly those from Umno. Some Malay and Muslim organisations – namely, Ikatan Rakyat Insan Muslim (IKIMM), Federal Territory Malaysian Indian Muslim Congress (Kiman), Malay Consultative Council (MPM) and Perkasa – went to the extent of lodging police reports against Chua over his controversial statement. The ultra-Malay right-wing pressure group Perkasa even demanded for Chua to be arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for “degrading national interests”.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (left) was one of the first Malay leaders to speak out with displeasure over what Chua said. Of course his immediate superior was on an overseas vacation at the time when he publicly reminded Chua not to make statements that could “cause anger or be prejudicial to other races” but, strategically, it was more appropriate for the Umno’s deputy president to come out and invoke the Malay people’s stance against Chua. This is because Najib has to uphold his Mr 1Malaysia image and any strong statement abetting Malay rights would risk him being deemed a hypocrite by non-Malays. Meanwhile, Dr Chua has now denied questioning the New Economic Policy (NEP) at the congress, saying he merely suggested ways to increase the country’s competitiveness and achieve the Najib administration’s high-income nation goal.

Chua’s controversial statement on abolishing the 30 percent bumiputera equity rule was anything but a slip of the tongue and I don’t think he’ll lose his Malay friends for it. It just looks like Barisan Nasional (BN) is cooking up some drama where Chua stars as both antagonist (of the hardcore Malays) and protagonist (to the hardcore Chinese). The new MCA president was merely expressing the sentiments of the hardcore Chinese to garner their support and gain political mileage.

We all know of the Chinese votes having swung towards the Opposition since the 12th General Election and this fact was apparent during the past by-elections since then. To make things worse, members of MCA had elected Chua – a leader with moral issues as a proven track record – to be their frontrunner in total disregard to what the Chinese community and the rest of the country would feel about their decision. This just gives the impression that MCA leaders are more concerned about their self-interest than the interest of the Chinese community. Why else would they risk the community’s as well as the party’s future by electing a man whose acts of infidelity has been witnessed by the whole nation as their president? Their motivation could only arise from personal favours and possible threats from Chua. After all, at this juncture, we still don’t know who else from MCA were involved in the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal.

Chua’s strategic move is nothing more than a drastic measure called by drastic circumstances. The reality is that the Chinese vote trend and sentiments are not to his and MCA’s favour as he only has a less-than-admirable nine percent Chinese support at the moment. Making the controversial statement that touched on racial sensitivities was nothing but a desperate attempt for MCA to stay relevant before the next general election.

MCA-DAP Unity?

Rumours of MCA merging with DAP, as unfathomable as it may seem, has been going around in the Umno circle even before Chua made his now famous remark. It’s as though the Umno fellows knew Chua was going to get nasty on the bumiputera equity issue which gives more reason to believe that the whole controversy was nothing but a pre-planned attempt to garner more Chinese support before the doubtable 13th General Election.

The idea of the two adversaries coming together may seem inconceivable to many but then again anything can happen in politics. After all, PAS was part of BN back in the 70s (from 1973 to 1978) during Asri Muda's time and now they are working hand in hand under the same coalition as DAP. Hence, it is not at all impossible for two biggest Chinese-based parties to settle their differences and reach a common ground. The only thing is, the alliance between PAS and DAP was only made possible by PKR and its de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who acted as a mediator to bring the two together. Could Gerakan and its chief Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon play PKR’s role as ‘the glue’ in the collaboration of the two (three plus Gerakan) rival parties?
 
Other more obvious questions that would arise are: Would the new party under the new DAP-MCA-(Gerakan) unification be a 100 percent Chinese race-based outfit or a multiracial one? And if they decide on the former, would the non-Chinese in DAP (and Gerakan) be made to leave the party or would they be part of a non-majority/non-Chinese wing (like PAS’ non-Muslim wing)?

However, there are yet clear signs of DAP and MCA coming together aside from Chua stating that his party “will not be afraid to share similar views with DAP in terms of the benefit of the (Chinese) community instead of choosing to run away from making a stand”. Conversely, a day later, the party’s deputy president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai (left) said “whatever stand taken by MCA is absolutely different from that of DAP” and that “whatever being voiced out by MCA was made in the spirit of BN and in the best interest of the coalition as a whole”.

Even so, if the two (or three plus Gerakan) biggest Chinese-majority parties  were to team up, Umno and PAS will be left with no choice but to merge with each other for the sake of strengthening the Malays (and Islam). This scenario would also result in the country moving backwards whereby race-politics is at its uttermost level. I’m just not too sure if this is the way to go as we work towards attaining a developed nation status by 2020.