‘Damn your principles. Stick to your party’

LETTER The impact of the EGM is tumultuous. The madness must cease. MCA members must stop now. They are paying the double price of smashed hopes.

In order to atone for their sins, they must take the initiative in bringing a stop to this tragic internal warfare. MCA as a party must undergo a radical transformation of values. There is nothing to keep MCA from moulding a recalcitrant membership, with bruished hands, until they fashioned it into a brotherhood. Their only hope lies in their ability to recapture the MCA spirit to face a sometimes hostile political environment from within MCA, BN and the opposition.

The members can no longer afford to worship a god of hate and bow before the alter of retaliation.

If they do not act now they will be surely be dragged down the long and dark corridors of shame.

Let us get to basics:-

MCA is an association. The contract of membership with the payment of subscription calls for the observance by all members to the rules of its constitution. In particular, there is an implied undertaking by the association to uphold those rules in good faith. It must not be in pursuance of some oblique or improper motive.

Edmund Burke once said:- ‘A party is a body of men united for promoting by their joint endeavours the national interest upon some particular principle in which they all agreed’

Therefore the party constitution is our guiding force and it is the supreme document. The ground rules of the game are all envisaged in it. All members including the president must honour it and play by those rules.

Article 35 provides:- the General Assembly may dismiss any party official if approved by at least two third of the delegates to the general assembly.

The results of the EGM resolution:- “that members of the general assembly have no confidence in the leadership of Ong Tee Keat” was adopted by 1,155 votes against 1,141.

A corollary of that result is that this resolution has failed to dismiss the president. As such Ong is still the president of the MCA.

The MCA president had pledged time and again to uphold the MCA Constitution throughout his long membership. He must continue to honour and uphold the MCA Constitution.

May I offer Benjamin Disraeli’s timely and appropriate advice to the MCA president ‘Damn your principles. Stick to your party.’

Ong’s selfless services and sacrifices for the MCA have been etched in the party’s history. He has the unflagging conviction towards the purity of MCA’s objectives and worthiness of its cause.

He has been a forthright leader who spoke up fearlessly. He exposed the excessive amounts paid for the renovations of Chinese primary schools in Johor. He spoke up on the unfair and unjust allocations of places into the local public universities.

As transport minister, he opened up the can of worms and ‘the mother of all financial scandals’- the PKFZ fiasco. We, the rakyat, have lost billions. Seemingly, powerful politicians have vested interest in this financial scandal. These vultures are out to get him.

Obviously, Ong has stepped on the toes of some powerful figures. The question is:- What has Ong not done for the Chinese Community?

The Merdeka Centre survey conducted recently has shown that the majority of the respondents feel that Ong should continue leading MCA. Numerous Chinese Community NGOs have also come forward in support that Ong should not resign.

I believe responsibility of a leader to decide what is best for the people, party and nation may at times caused some unease.

There must be times that he has erred -not able to fulfill his promises, made mistakes and shortcomings BUT I do not believe he should resign as MCA president. MCA still needs him to navigate through these troubled and stormy times.

Ronnie Tan,

Kuala Lumpur