PRESS STATEMENT BY:-
TAN SRI DATUK ROBERT PHANG MIOW SIN
Justice of Peace
Chairman – Social Care Foundation
A CALL TO REJECT THE POLITICS OF THREATS AND RACE
The Chinese community is an integral part of Malaysian society and the exercise of their intellectual rights should not be subjected to any political threats or intimidation. History has shown that the Chinese are pragmatic and open-minded and seek only fair implementation of policies by the Government of the day. The views I express below are the culmination of Chinese thoughts based on the above principles.
1. During the past MCA presidential campaign, I took out an advertorial at my own cost to denounce Dr Chua Soi Lek as a bad apple compared to Ong Tee Keat. Some members of the public misunderstood my action to mean that I am an MCA member and was taking sides in that party presidetntial elections.
3. By Chua Soi Lek’s own admission of his inherent weaknesses, he could not possibly be the best person in the Chinese community to talk about Chinese interest in this country. It would be a sad day for Malaysian Chinese if that was the case, as if we have scraped the barrel and could only come up with someone like him. After all, this is the same rationale used by UMNO to denounce Anwar Ibrahim as a great risk to the Malays if he ever ascend the Premiership. Thus, MCA must be seen consistent wiith the principles espoused by its more dominant partner in BN.
4. At that time, the option was for the MCA to be led by Ong Tee Keat whom the majority of the Rakyat had likened to be a good apple. The reasons are obvious. Ong Tee Keat did not have the inherent weaknesses of Chua Soi Lek. He was also fearless in raising the PKFZ issue that had resulted in several personalities being prosecuted. That proved costly to Ong when the invisible powers caused him to lose the MCA Presidency and his Minister’s post.
6. Presently, Chua has no government post because under present climate he is too much of a liabilty. Thus, Chua loses nothing by making that declaration. If he succeeds in his scheme, he would only be perpetuating his presidency because the other MCA leaders would also have to give up their Ministerial posts. Thus, Chua would have removed the advantage they have over him as a party leader without a government post. Thus,Chua plays the wild card game. He is throwing the gauntlet to UMNO, to BN and to the Chinese community to accede to his demands in a round about way. He is resorting to the politics of threats.
7. By doing that he is making the MCA behave like a Chinese pressure group instead of the government’s coalition partner. He is making the MCA behave no differently than PERKASA, the ultra Malay rights group. It must be remembered that PERKASA is not a government component party. MCA cannot behave that radical especialy after having condemned PERKASA so vehemently. Therein lies the hypocrisy and deceitfulness of Chua Soi Lek. Even Tun Dr. Mahathir felt that way, thus he is defended PERKASA’s struggles.
8. As a BN coalition partner, I would expect MCA President Chua to behave more responsibly. By making his personal agenda to be MCAs‘ official stand, he will only harden our Malay bothers to support Perkasa and Utusan’s proposed “1Melayu, 1Bumi” movement to curb Chinese political power in the country. This philosophy of race-based politics should be rejected outright by all Malaysians. Dr. Chua’s statement paled in comparison to then CM of Penang, Lim Guan Eng – who dealt with this issue in a more statesmalike manner when he said that Elections are about democracy, not about race. It is about choosing the best candidate who can best serve and represent voters, not about race. It is about whose policies promote justice, freedom and truth, not about race.“
9. Chua’s declaration is setting a very dangerous precedent that will divide the country further if the Chinese are not represented in the government. His declaration was made for a very selfish motive because Chua realises that Prime Minister Najib would not have a man of his background in the Cabinet. He is a liability not only to the Government but also to the Chinese community at the next GE13. My fears of the gambit that Chua would take for his political survival have now proven true.
10. Needless to say, by his statement, Chua Soi Lek will only be remembered as someone who is looking after his own interest instead of the interest of all Malaysians. For that irresponsible stand, he should be consigned to obscurity.
11. To that end, I humbly appeal to our PM YAB Dato‘ Sri Haji Mohd. Najib to try comprehend more of the Chinese inner feelings, that the Chinese community do not like to be threatened. If the Chinese community in Semenanjung choose to remain silent, that would mean they will send the same message in a loud and clear manner as reflected by the Sarawak Chinese in the recent Sarawak state elections. Despite the strong and intimidating threats by the regime of CM Taib Mahmud and the BN, the Chinese community outrightly rejected them.This is a clear and undisputed fact. I pray our PM not to ignore this glaring fact. I implore the PM to avoid being dragged into this pitfall by the President of MCA, Dr. Chua Soi Lek.
12. Thus, I call on all Chinese especially the MCA current leaders and members to remove the blinkers and wake up, not to succumb to Chua’s politics of threat and race. They must reject that call to abandon government post because, in truth, that is a call to reject participation in a 1Malaysian Government.
“HUMBLENESS IS GOOD VIRTUE, ARROGANCE SHALL FALL, THE MEEK WILL RULE THE WORLD”.
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Tan Sri Datuk Robert Phang Miow Sin
Justice of Peace
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