Politics 101 Malaysia

Former MCA vice-president Chua Jui Meng made a plea to current party president Ong Ka Ting to do the right thing and step down.

Chua said the Chinese community has already “rejected Ong in the clearest possible manner.”– mkini

Commentary by Stanley Koh, malaysiakini, Feb 18.

Will election history repeat itself for the MCA in the 12th national polls on March 8? This may not exactly be a burning question but it is a natural one for active voters who remember keen battles of the past.

In the 1986 general election, the great loser was the MCA. The opposition DAP won 24 parliamentary and 37 state seats, mainly on Chinese votes.

Most of the seats lost by the Barisan Nasional (BN) were contested by the MCA. The party lost 50 percent of contested seats, winning only 17 of the 32 parliamentary seats and 43 of the 69 state seats.

MCA had, however, reached its nadir much earlier, in 1969, when it lost control of the Penang government, and was almost decimated in Perak and elsewhere. Of the 33 parliamentary seats contested, the party won only 13. Of the 83 state seats contested, only 28 went to MCA.

The political post-mortem after the 1986 polls pointed out the ‘anti-establishment mood’ of the electorate, fueled by economic recession, job losses and negative reaction to deviations in implementing the New Economic Policy. ”Continued”

I’m not the least worried with PJU’s outgoing Chew Mei Fun’s “If there is insufficient Chinese representation in the Barisan Nasional, it is not a good thing, the Chinese community cannot afford another May 13 incident.”

Poor sod wasn’t using a seatbelt when her official car flipped and she was thrown out.

I think it’s the fairies in her head that’s doing the talking la.

by Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob, AsiaSentinel, Jan 9.

Chua Soi Lek, until last week one of Malaysia’s most powerful Chinese politicians, likely owes his downfall to internecine warfare within the Malaysian Chinese Association, the country second-biggest political party.

The wrangling has grown so intense that it could threaten Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s plans for an early election.

Chua was forced to resign from his position as Minister of Health on Jan. 2 after confessing to being filmed surreptitiously in a 56-minute sexual tryst with his “friend,” an unidentified young woman. In a press conference acknowledging he was the man in the video, he told reporters: “I would like to emphasize that I did not make the tape. Who has done the tape and why is obvious.”

He did not name the person or persons he suspected, and so far whoever recorded the action remains undetected. ”Continued”

By Susan Tam, The Electric New Paper, Jan 7.

AS VOYEURS both sides of the Causeway pore over the nuances of the dirty DVD featuring ex-Malaysian Health Minister Chua Soi Lek and his florist lover, political observers are now weighing the political fallout from the biggest sex scandal to hit the country in recent years.

In particular, with a general election expected early this year, many wonder what the impact will be on the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), and the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

BN, which is made up of the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), the MCA and the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), has already been under considerable pressure over the past months due to a series of street rallies challenging its authority.

Dr Chua’s sex scandal also bears the hallmarks of a smear campaign, his supporters argue, and this suggests dissension within MCA ranks. ”Continued”

by Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob, AsiaSentinel, Jan 2.

Chua Soi Lek, one of Malaysia’s top Chinese politicians, has been forced to resign as minister of health and to leave politics after a sexually explicit videotape showing him getting into bed with an unnamed woman was widely circulated.

The DVD had been circulating in the southern state of Johor for more than a week when Chua, who also served as vice president of the Malaysian Chinese Association, which is part of the ruling Barisan Nasional, held a press conference to tell startled reporters that “I would like to verify that I am the man in the tape. The girl is a personal friend.”

Despite a series of scandals over the past few months, including one in which a prominent lawyer was caught on tape discussing the appointment of compliant judges with the chief justice of Federal Court, no other politicians have resigned. ”Continued”

VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

The ’stars’ in this clip may or may not be MCA leader(s).

AFP report

The ruling Barisan Nasional coalition is expected to suffer losses in elections expected early next year as it grapples with rare street protests and ethnic tensions, experts told a forum here.

But Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s BN government should maintain its two-thirds majority in Parliament unbeaten since independence in 1957, they said.

Unprecedented street protests demanding electoral reforms and highlighting racial discrimination erupted in Kuala Lumpur this month, posing one of the biggest challenges to Abdullah since he took over from the largely authoritarian and abrasive Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 2003.

“I think that even with the parameters shifting at this particular juncture, it is extremely difficult for the opposition to break the barrier of the two thirds. Period,” said Bridget Welsh, a Southeast Asian expert at John Hopkins University. ”Continued”

MCA Public Services and Complaint Department head Michael Chong is rubbishing Seputeh MP Teresa Kok’s claims that he had failed to handle Sow Kien Siong-Wendy Lim family feud professionally.

“That is not true. I did the right thing. I stressed to Sow that children under seven should be with their mother and he agreed with me. I don’t see anything wrong with that.

I strongly disagree with Michael Chong’s proposal that a child “under seven should be with their mother.”

A child under seven, or whatever age, should be under the care of the parent who’s in a better position to care for the child.

Unless one parent has waived all contact visit rights, both parents should have equal say in these fundmental issues regarding the child:

1) Choice of name

2) religion

3) education

4) critical health care

The non-caregiving parent should also be allowed minimum contact visits on alternate weekends.

Being the primary caregiver of a child should not mean the other parent must be banished from having some input into the child’s early life.