Posted on

Press freedom, a la MCA

by Thomas Lee Seng Hock
COMMENT

MCA president Chua Soi Lek has declared that his party wants the current restrictive and oppressive Printing Presses and Publications Act scrapped, to keep up with the increasing public demands for more openness and freedom of expression.

Chua said at the recently concluded 58th MCA annual general assembly that the aspirations of the new generation of Malaysians for a more liberal and democratic society means that the Barisan Nasional government should be bold and confident enough to dump the intolerable piece of harsh and authoritarian legislation, not just make amendments to it.

“We must work towards abolishing the Printing Presses and Publications Act and set a time frame for that. The government has to be bold and confident enough to take such a step,” he said. Continue reading “Press freedom, a la MCA”

Posted on

A vote for Najib is a vote for…

— Tan Teck Huat
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 02, 2011

OCT 2 — … Utusan Malaysia, The Star, News Sraits Times and other propaganda papers.

Today I made the colossal mistake of reading that MCA-owned ragsheet, The Star.

Under the pretence of caring about the future of Malaysia, they went on and on about hudud laws, trying to frighten Malaysians about PAS and Pakatan Rakyat.

But there was nothing in the paper about the theft of native land in Sarawak, about corruption in the country and abuse of power by Barisan Nasional politicians, including those from the MCA.

It is the same with Utusan Malaysia. Continue reading “A vote for Najib is a vote for…”

Posted on

New Deal

Letters
by Toh Leong

I read CSL speech (MCA 58th AGM). Sound okay in rhetoric, but can he match it with actions. Walk the talk as he expects others who are not in power to do.

The PKFZ scandal persisted since three previous MCA transport ministers. Are they going to continue keeping quiet, and hope the people will forget?

The MCA believes in peaceful dissent. How come they did not support Bersih in the first place. Tear gas and water cannons were fired into a hospital. Its minister promised an investigation, but nothing happens. Looks like empty vessel making noises. there is absolutely no concern of the two new laws to replace the repressive ISA. At least, state that detention without trail is not in the best interests of the rakyat. It is a weapon of colonialists and repressive regimes. Continue reading “New Deal”

Posted on

Why MCA is finished

by Thomas Lee

COMMENT

I think the MCA will be totally wiped out at the next general election for the following reasons:

(1) The people, especially the educated urban voters, are fed up and want a big and drastic change. So they will dump the MCA and Gerakan, and will go all out to vote for the alternative front, especially the DAP.

(2) Looking at the type of leaders the MCA currently has, it is obvious that almost none of them are fit and credible to be elected representatives. The MCA will lose if it fields its present leaders and those who lost in the last general election, including the foolish ones who talk rubbish all the time (like the fellow who wants to set up a “Chinese Perkasa” or that Penang wanita leader who attacked Guan Eng for giving projects to Malay contractors via open tenders).

(3) If the DAP fields candidates like the late Teoh Beng Hock’s sister against the MCA president’s son in Johore, he will lose his deposit. Donald will also be roasted and lose his deposit if he is fielded again. There is no hope for any MCA candidate in Penang, and the party should stay out of the state or risks having all its candidate lose deposits there. Continue reading “Why MCA is finished”

Posted on

MCA founder’s granddaughter lauds Guan Eng’s policies in Penang

The Malaysian Insider
Aug 25, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 — Lim Guan Eng received praise from an unexpected source today when the granddaughter of the MCA’s first president and daughter of the country’s longest-serving finance minister said the Penang chief minister should be given his due for the state’s prudent management of public funds.

Tan Siok Choo, the daughter of Tun Tan Siew Sin and granddaughter of Tun Sir Tan Cheng Lock — both of whom were former MCA presidents — told BFM radio this morning that it was good that Lim had shown what could be done by eliminating waste and implementing open tenders.

“For my father… he was always very particular that government funds should be looked after like your own funds. I think it is in a way, currently, very good that Lim Guan Eng (picture), Chief Minister of Penang, has shown what can be done if you eliminate waste and if you have an open tender.

“The fact that he has been able to run Penang without much contribution from the federal government and yet turn in, yet attract one of the highest rates of investment, I think speaks for itself. Continue reading “MCA founder’s granddaughter lauds Guan Eng’s policies in Penang”

Posted on

MCA Chua Soi Lek, Gerakan Koh Tsu Koon caught in a time warp?

by Richard Loh

Respectable and honorable leaders during the 20th century but what have become of them in the 21st century?

Are MCA Chua Soi Lek and Gerakan Koh Tsu Koon caught in a time warp? Both of them have to be reminded that we are living in the 21st century and the present political scenes and what the rakyat wanted are different from what they used to be. From their talks and political speeches one can see that they are truly out of touch with reality.

Since I am from Penang I will write and use examples from this state. Continue reading “MCA Chua Soi Lek, Gerakan Koh Tsu Koon caught in a time warp?”

Posted on

Guan Eng: Insinuations I want to be PM are false

by Susan Loone
Malaysiakini
Aug 21, 2011

MCA has been accused of conspiring with Umno-owned Malay language daily, Utusan Malaysia, to insinuate that Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng wants to be prime minister.

Lim told the party’s president Dr Chua Soi Lek to refrain from ‘lying’ as he had neither the ambition nor the qualifications to be PM.

He asked Chua to stop following in the footsteps of Utusan Malaysia by inciting racial sentiments to attack him, the DAP or Pakatan Rakyat.
Continue reading “Guan Eng: Insinuations I want to be PM are false”

Posted on

Question of DAP joining BN to replace MCA does not arise at all

The media has been abuzz following the Sin Chew Daily interview with Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz and his notion that DAP should join the Barisan Nasional.

The question of DAP joining the Barisan Nasional to replace MCA does not arise at all.

DAP is not a Chinese party fighting for Chinese rights but a Malaysian party fighting for the rights of all Malaysians whether Chinese, Malays, Indians, Ibans, Kadazans or Orang Asli as common Malaysian citizens who are entitled to an equal place under the Malaysian sun.

DAP leaders have toiled and sacrificed for their political beliefs in the past 45 years, persecuted and prosecuted in court, detained under the Internal Security Act for as long as four year and nine months, jailed and disqualified as MP and barred from elective office for five years for standing firm and steadfast on a matter of principle to fight for the rights of all Malaysians transcending race and religion – all these sacrifices not just for the DAP to replace MCA in the Barisan Nasional. Continue reading “Question of DAP joining BN to replace MCA does not arise at all”

Posted on

How unprincipled and low can you go, Chua Soi Lek, as MCA President?

Any Malaysian given three answers to the question: Who made the allegation that DAP wants to create a “little China” in Malaysia would invariably name Utusan Malaysia, Berita Harian and UMNO although not necessarily in the same order.

Nobody would have named the MCA let alone the MCA President, Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek as it is so wild, absurd and irresponsible a charge no sane or reasonable person would make.

One could disagree with Chua Soi Lek to date but so far he has kept to certain standards in his public statements and speeches.

But Chua Soi Lek’s allegation in Kota Kinabalu yesterday that DAP wants to create a “little China” in Malaysia must rank as among the most despicable and dastardly of lies in Malaysian politics designed to help UMNO ultras to scare Malay voters. Continue reading “How unprincipled and low can you go, Chua Soi Lek, as MCA President?”

Posted on

DAP raps MCA for carping about church raid

By Boo Su-Lyn
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 06, 2011

PUCHONG, Aug 6 — The MCA has no right to denounce the DAP over its purported silence on the state religious Islamic authorities’ raid on a church as the Chinese party has been powerless when non-Muslims’ rights are threatened, Teresa Kok said today.

The Selangor DAP chief pointed out that her party has expressed its “dissatisfaction” with the Selangor Islamic Religious Department’s (Jais) Wednesday late-night raid on Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC).

“MCA is a party that is least qualified to talk about political courage,” Kok told reporters today.

“Umno has done so much nonsense against MCA and the non-Malay community, yet MCA still sticks as Umno’s partner,” added the Seputeh MP. Continue reading “DAP raps MCA for carping about church raid”

Posted on

Malay contractors call MCA racist, defend Penang government

By Yow Hong Chieh
August 02, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 2 — The Malay Contractors Association of Malaysia’s (PKMM) Penang branch has defended the state’s open tender system as fair and warned Penang MCA to stop politicising contracts awarded to Bumiputeras there.

Acting Penang PKMM chief Datuk Izham Merican today condemned what he said was Penang MCA’s “ignorance” for failing to understand that open tenders allowed the state government to select the best and most competitively priced contractors, regardless of race. Continue reading “Malay contractors call MCA racist, defend Penang government”

Posted on

The Amanah agenda (Part 2)

By Sakmongkol AK47 | July 25, 2011
The Malaysian Insider

JULY 25 — This is a gathering of concerned citizens. On the stage forming the committee members of Amanah were Kadir Sh Fadzir himself, Daniel Tajem, S. Subramaniam( a former MIC deputy president), Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah as chairman, Ong Tee Keat, Bujang Ulis from Sarawak and a sitting MP from Sabah.

The audience was made up of mainly concerned citizens of all races, with Malays making the predominant number. I am sure not everyone in there in the hall that day will commit themselves to the rigors of field politics; but I was sure of one thing. Everyone were united in the revulsion and rejection of what is going on in the country — the politics, economy, the divisiveness in our society, the future of democracy, the future of this country.
Continue reading “The Amanah agenda (Part 2)”

Posted on

PAS: MCA, Gerakan approved nightspot ban in 1997

The Malaysian Insider | July 18, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, July 18 — PAS today called MCA and Gerakan hypocrites for criticising the Kedah ban on entertainment outlets, pointing out that the two parties had approved the law when it was passed during the rule of the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the state.

“It was this group that supported the enactment in 1997 when it was debated before,” PAS information chief Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said in a statement carried on PAS website Harakah Daily this morning. “Suddenly, they want to become heroes supposedly because they want to protect the rights of the non-Muslims.”

Tuan Ibrahim, who is PAS Pahang commissioner, also countered accusations that the state’s decision yesterday to revoke the ban was due to the Islamist party’s subservience to DAP and dared all BN-controlled states to impose the same restrictions.
Continue reading “PAS: MCA, Gerakan approved nightspot ban in 1997”

Posted on

Minister Liow, photos and videos don’t lie

Malaysiakini Your Say | Jul 14, 11

‘Fearing the consequences of being called a liar, he flipped and has pointed the finger squarely now at the Tung Shin hospital’s board.’

Liow takes tear gas explanation to Twitter

Karma: How about MCA chief Dr Chua Soi Lek who said that despite video or photo evidence, it is an optical illusion that caused people to believe that tear gas could have been fired into the hospital?

Admit it. Police, except the good ones, were too focused on firing the rounds at the people and forgot their purpose was to maintain peace. No one was violent that day and no one was throwing any stones at the police, so there was no need to attack.
Continue reading “Minister Liow, photos and videos don’t lie”

Posted on

Deliver votes, not crowds, MCA

By The Malaysian Insider
July 12, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

JULY 12 — MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek boasted today his party could match Bersih 2.0’s crowd in last weekend’s rally calling for clean and fair elections.

“To gather ten or twenty thousand to demonstrate is nothing great. MCA can organised 50,000 if you want me to do it, anytime,” he told reporters at Wisma MCA here today. Continue reading “Deliver votes, not crowds, MCA”

Posted on

Was Tiong Lai “blackmailed” into telling untruths about Tung Shin Hospital?

DAP MP for PJ Utara and National Publicity Secretary Tony Pua was rightly outraged and accused the MCA Deputy President and Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai of “lying through his teeth” when the latter denied that police had fired tear gas and water cannons into the Tung Shin Maternity Hospital during the 709 Bersih 2.0 rally on Saturday.

Pua has also rightly demanded the Health Minister apologise to the hospital authorities and Malaysians for his statement as Pua is not only an eye-witness but a victim of the wanton, reckless and unforgivable police attacks on the Tong Shin Maternity Hospital,

Liow’s action was cowardly and indefensible, going against the weight of eye-witness accounts and increasing pile of videos and pictorial evidence. Continue reading “Was Tiong Lai “blackmailed” into telling untruths about Tung Shin Hospital?”

Posted on

A campaign of courage

By Stanley Koh | June 28, 2011
Free Malaysia Today

Why is the rally for electoral reforms such a political hot potato? Why this gush of threats and calls for the punishment of the Bersih rally organisers? Why is the Barisan Nasionl hegemony so fearful of electoral reforms? Why shouldn’t it support free, fair and clean elections?

Bertrand Russell once propounded the theory that bad leadership in a democracy is a logical impossibility. “The electorate always get the leaders they deserve. No matter how incompetent or venal the leaders are, the electorate must have been even worse to have elected them.”

But this cynical view cannot apply to Malaysia. The Malaysian experience has shown that it is possible for good citizens to get bad leaders.
Continue reading “A campaign of courage”

Posted on

Soi Lek says Tourism Facebook pages incur more cost than personal ones

By Yow Hong Chieh
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 18, 2011

The Facebook pages operated by the Tourism Ministry are “complicated” and cost more to run than similar personal pages on the world’s most popular social networking site, Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said tonight

The MCA president waded into the controversy surrounding the RM1.8 million paid for six Facebook pages by the ministry helmed by party vice president Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen, saying it might cost nothing to start such pages but maintenance had costs.

He added that it was difficult to put a dollar figure to the creativity of the IT consultants used, which he suggested was the largest variable in the bill.

“That creativity, I don’t know how much they will charge,” he told reporters after attending a fundraising dinner at SMJK Chong Hwa here. Continue reading “Soi Lek says Tourism Facebook pages incur more cost than personal ones”

Posted on

Minister: Soi Lek approved diesel subsidy cuts

S Pathmawathy | Jun 13, 11
Malaysiakini

MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek did not object to diesel subsidy cuts during the National Economic Council meeting when the matter was decided, revealed Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumer Affairs Minister Ismail Sabri.

Speaking to reporters at the Parliament lobby today, Ismail said that Chua should have raised his concerns during the meeting instead of letting his party leaders complain now through the media.

“How can he now turn back and say it’s not fair? The MCA statement is unfair to government,” he said.

He added that the MCA should be helping the government in tackling protests by C2-class fishing trawler operators because the party had a hand in making the decision in the first place. Continue reading “Minister: Soi Lek approved diesel subsidy cuts”

Posted on

Why from a community of MCA “enablers” to MCA “bashers”?

by donng55
Comment from “Soi Lek’s impossible dream”Sunday, 12 June 2011

We are not barren of appreciation of what MCA did for the Chinese community and the country as a whole before, during, and immediately after Merdeka.

But that was the nascent MCA more than two score years ago.

The MCA of today, since Ling Liong Sik’s day to be exact, is no longer the party we knew, respected, and loved.

We saw how its leaders for their own selfsih reasons pushed it down a very slippery slope leading to its current state of degringolade.

The threshold question is: Why is it that, we, from a community of MCA “enablers” who flocked to its standard every time when the party was in distress, have now transmogrified into a community of MCA bashers? Continue reading “Why from a community of MCA “enablers” to MCA “bashers”?”