MCA and Its Irrelevance. Time To Face Reality By Norman Fernandez

The following was written by Norman Fernandez after the Bersih 4 rally. It is a relevant comment. My views at the end :

The two day Bersih rally last weekend saw unprecedented participation by the Chinese community. 

Not surprising, since the Merdeka Centre survey found almost 81% of the Chinese supported Bersih-4, while 51% Indians and only 30% Malays were supportive of Bersih-4. Malays were noticeably absent this time. This come as no surprise since the job of mobilising the Malay participants in public rallies was always the job of PAS who can effortlessly mobilise the crowd. This time, PAS stayed in the sideline, and it showed. It still goes to show that PAS remains a formidable force in Malaysian politics which cannot be shrugged off.

With Malays almost staying away, the Bersih rally took on an eerily Chinese-centric rally. Not surprising since in the run-up to Bersih-4, it was DAP that was working the hardest to whip-up the people and particularly the Chinese to support and attend the Bersih rally. It would not be too wrong to say that Bersih-4 was in essence a DAP rally.

Now that the rally is over, a moment of reflection, will and must send MCA shivers or at the very least dawn on MCA that a worse nightmare than that befell MCA in 2013 is slowly taking shape.

Looking at the race and age group of the Bersih-4 participants, the majority were Chinese and the young. It is this group who come GE-14 are going to be the voters. It is almost a certainty that this group is surely not going to vote MCA. Any wonder DAP MP, Tony Pua was reportedly to be most pleased and confident of support for the opposition come GE-14.

• In 2004, MCA won 31 parliamentary seats. 
• In 2008, MCA share of the parliamentary seats dropped to 15 
• In 2013 MCA's share of parliamentary seats was slashed to a mere 7 seats 

and that too because of contesting in almost Malay majority seats which provided the political life-jacket for MCA.

Thus, one do not need to be a soothsayer to predict that come GE-14, MCA is going to be obliterated and wiped-out. Unless, UMNO is still willing and which this time it will be hardpressed to still be benovelent since there is already growing sentiment among UMNO members openly questioning the rationality of UMNO sacrificing its Malay majority seats to help MCA, when the Chinese are turning their backs against MCA. In short, UMNO is and will be demanding back its seats.

To the young Chinese, MCA understandably is caught between a rock and a hard place, between articulating more forcefully the Chinese demand and mindful of its position in BN, is finding it difficult to make an impact and impression on the Chinese. 

If MCA keeps silent, to the Chinese, MCA is labelled as a lackey of UMNO and if MCA tries to be overtly vocal, UMNO comes questioning its loyalty to BN. 

For the thousands of Chinese who attended the Bersih-4 rally, MCA is almost irrelevant to them. 

Starting in 2008 and come next election in 2017, that is some almost nine years of inculcating in the minds of the young Chinese that MCA is no more than the "running dogs" of UMNO, and it matters little to them whether MCA is around or obliterated. 

In fact, what matters is Lim Kit Siang being around.

With the falling birthrate among ‎the Chinese, the change in population demographic which has seen the Chinese population fall from being almost 30% of Malaysian population to the present 24% and targeted to fall further to almost 18% come 2050, the Chinese are working hard to irrelevance.

Chinese must face-up to the truth that, the government can rule the country without the Chinese. Remember in the aftermath of the 2013 General Election when MCA declined to accept a cabinet post, the government could still rule the country. 

So, there is no loss, if there no Chinese representation in the government, it is only a loss to the Chinese. 

Maybe, the best is for MCA to face up to the reality and not contest any seat and take up cabinet representation via the Senate.
Chinese being inveterate gamblers took a gamble with Pakatan Rakyat. 

Not only Pakatan Rakyat did not manage to take federal powers, Pakatan Rakyat as we know is dead and history. 

For the new opposition coalition a long road is ahead but it is unlikely to be able to replicate the momentum of 2013.

As such it remains a choice if the Chinese would face up to the political realities affecting them or the majority of them will take another punt. 

Looking at Bersih-4, it is reasonably clear, where Chinese are going to throw their coin and with that the future of the Chinese.

Norman Fernandez
 

* Norman Fernandez was the former Johor DAP Deputy State Chairman‎ and a former member of DAP. Today, he is a Non-Governmental Individual and an independent political observer. This is his personal view.

My comments :  The MCA is already irrelevant to the Chinese community. However the Chinese community is far from irrelevant in Malaysian politics. My view is although smaller in number, the Chinese community is going to be even more influential in the future.  Simply because they work very hard, they compete in the open economy without any cructhes, both domestically and internationally, and they will hold an even more substantial position in the country's economy.

At the same time, the Malay economy is just slipping and sliding away. There is still no real Malay economy to speak of. Even the government linked "bumiputra economic cartels, agencies and trusts" are failing miserably. Felda is a great example. 

The evolving "dark horse" (much to Norman Fernandez's dislike I am sure) is the DAP.  Monopolised by Mr Lim Kit Siang and now his son Lim Guan Eng the DAP is changing and taking in more Malays. The Malay profile of the DAP is "increasing" at a good clip.

The DAP was clever to team up with PAS since 1987-89 (the Tengku Razaleigh / Dr Mahathir split). The Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah was the first step in their 'inconvenient marriage of convenience'.  10 years later Anwar Ibrahim gave the "pakatan"  another longer lease on life. 

After 28 years now, the stresses of their 'inconvenient marriage of convenience' has finally exploded. The DAP has broken with PAS quite completely. My view is the timing of this break is historically perfect.

Anwar Ibrahim is now a liability, even if he is freed from jail tomorrow. He has always been a liability, the brader was a dud, had no ideas, was strategically a great big "zero" and had strange personal habits.  The PKR can develop a life of its own without Anwar's bungling strategies. If Azmin Ali holds steady and firm, the PKR will survive.

The PAS have never been relevant for the benefit of the human race. Proof : Kelantan.

It is the DAP that has grown and become stronger. With 38 seats, they are the largest Opposition party and second largest party in Parliament. 

In my view the moment has arrived in history, where if the DAP evolves into a truly "Malaysian" party in both its membership profile and leadership it is most likely that the DAP will rule the country.

At this point in time, the future of the country can actually be determined by how the DAP sees itself and positions itself for the future. That depends to a great extent on Mr Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng.

They really have to speak Malay without that accent. Bukan susah pun. The mamaks can do it. Now even the Banglas can do it.

And this time around the DAP has a very huge secret weapon : Super Moron and the Party of Doom.