Media statement by Teresa Kok Suh Sim in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, 12^th April 2011:

Kong Cho Ha, wake up from MCA's narrow, race-based politics

MCA Secretary-General and Transport Minister Kong Cho Ha's statement that the Chinese community in Sarawak don't realise just how well they are being treated by Barisan Nasional (BN) Sarawak, relative to other states, reveals how his view of Malaysia is permanently blinkered by a narrow racial lens. (Source: http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=577898)

Two days ago, Kong asked the Chinese in Sarawak to be contented and grateful for the job opportunities and civil liberties that are available to them in Sarawak.

"A Chinese district officer is unheard of in any other part of the country. And nowhere else in Malaysia do you have a Chinese mayor," said Kong.

He further stated that the BN state government allows the use of the Chinese language and practice of their religion and traditions.

Thus, he argued that the Chinese in Sarawak should be contented with how much better off they are, relatively speaking of course, to the Chinese in Peninsula Malaysia.

Kong's statement is most disappointing and ignorant for a Minister and MCA leader.

Firstly, it reveals how Kong is still trapped in the narrow, race-based politics employed by MCA to justify their existence. In his zeal to promote the appointment of ethnic Chinese Malaysians into government positions, he fails to recognise that such appointments should be made based on merit in the first place, without any racial bias. After all, Najib's 1Malaysia supposedly promises that all Malaysians should receive equal treatment.

As for the practice of religion in Sarawak, freedom of religion is a right enshrined in Article 11 of the Federal Constitution. Thus, the Sarawak state government is merely allowing what all Malaysians are entitled to by law.

To have any credibility as an MCA leader at all, Kong should soundly condemn the racial discrimination and suppression of freedom of religion caused by BN in Peninsula Malaysia, instead of using it to warn the Chinese in Sarawak of ingratitude.

Furthermore, Kong should be aware that the people of Sarawak enjoy far better racial relations than West Malaysia, due to the absence of the race-based political parties that "divide and conquer" Peninsula Malaysia such as UMNO, MCA and MIC thus far.

Secondly, Kong's statement also reveals his mentality that ethnic Chinese Malaysians are inferior to other races. It is this kind of inferiority complex that makes MCA permanently subservient to UMNO within the BN framework. They are so spineless that they hardly raised a peep when Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Nazri Aziz openly denigrated MCA as an abused wife that refuses to leave an abusive husband.

It is this spinelessness which has rendered MCA irrelevant to voters, leading them to reject MCA in the 2008 General Elections.

Last but not least, Kong's statement reveals that he does not trust other BN component parties' interest and ability to represent the interests of the Chinese in Sarawak.

He said, "(The Chinese in Sarawak) have to understand that should they decide not to give their votes to the Chinese representatives (of SUPP), the other parties in the ruling coalition may use the defeat of SUPP as an excuse to change everything... They may succeed in getting rid of SUPP in some constituencies, but this would only mean diluting Chinese representation in the government."

He can hardly expect Sarawak voters to trust BN with their future, when he himself does not trust BN component parties.

I urge Kong Cho Ha and all of MCA to wake up from their narrow, race-based politics for their own political relevance, if not for the good of all Malaysians.

* Teresa Kok Suh Sim, DAP National Organizing Secretary, Selangor State Senior EXCO for Investment, Industry & Trade & MP for Seputeh