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MCA leadership has brought unprecedented shame and dishonour to Chinese community because its inability to categorically and unequivocally disprove   allegations of triad infiltration and influence has led  PAS Youth to  call for root-and-branch police  investigation of triad links in  MCA Media Statement by Lim Kit Siang (Petaling Jaya,  Thursday): Two days ago, PAS Youth called on the police  to re-investigate allegations of MCA having links with triads following the confirmation that an MCA branch leader is the reputed kingpin of the Sio Sam Ong (Three Little Emperors) triad, which is implicated with murder, dadah trafficking, kidnapping and robbery. The MCA leadership has brought unprecedented shame and dishonour to the Chinese community because its inability to categorically and unequivocally disprove allegations of triad infiltration and influence has led PAS Youth to  call for root-and-branch  police investigation of triad links in  MCA.  The new MCA President, Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting should take decisive,  effective and even pro-active action to convince Malaysians that the MCA leadership is unquestionably  clean as far as triad links are concerned, as the last thing the Chinese community wants is to become  the staple subject of the nation-wide PAS ceramahs and talks about the triad links, infiltration  and influence of the Chinese political leadership in the Barisan Nasional ruling coalition, as it would cast a reflection on the Chinese community as a whole.  Ka Ting cannot run away from this challenge by pretending that it does not exist or refusing to talk about it.  On Tuesday, the MCA Presidential Council suspended the membership of triad kingpin Ong King Ee, better known as “Jackie Chan”, who is chairman of MCA Gurney Drive Branch in Penang, pending the outcome of police investigations.  However, the MCA Presidential Council failed to realize that it was not Jackie Chan but the MCA leadership which was in the dock and the urgent need for it to decisively,  effectively and convincingly satisfy public opinion that it is clean of triad involvement, infiltration and influence.  The police nation-wide and even international alert and manhunt involving Interpol on July 16 for a MCA branch chairman as a triad kingpin had  re-opened and catapulted the issue of triad link, infiltration and influence in MCA to the centre-stage of national politics, reinforced by the following four  factors:  Public admission by Ong Ka Ting that he knew about Jackie Chan’s past triad record after the Malay Mail  on July 18, 2003 front-paged a  photograph of Ka Ting and King Ee at a MCA function in Feb. 2001, which had been posted on the Internet for the past two months,  after  he had studiously  avoided  the issue since the allegation of triad infiltration of  MCA surfaced early this year. Statement  by the MCA public services and complaint department director, Michael Chong on Sunday which seemed to imply an admission  that Ka Ting, when he was Deputy Home Minister from 1995-1999,  had dealings with Jackie Chan when under detention  in Simpang Rengam for two years from 1996. The clumsy attempt by the Deputy Home Minister, Datuk Zainal Abidin Zin to exonerate and “white-wash” the MCA of any triad links, involvement, infiltration and influence when he misled Parliament on June 16 when answering the DAP Secretary-General and MP for Kota Melaka, Kerk Kim Hock during question time that the the police had found no evidence that MCA members and top leaders were involved in triad politics. The unrepentant and unwithdrawn public allegation by MCA Youth leader and Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports, Datuk Ong Tee Keat, of triad infiltration and influence  in  MCA, to the extent of personally submitting  two names to the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to substantiate his allegation which cannot but taint the MCA and the government.  Tee Keat’s continued tenure as Deputy Minister could only mean that he had successfully substantiated his allegation of triad infiltration and influence in MCA to the satisfaction of the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister! For the first time in the 54-year history of MCA, triad links, involvement, infiltration and influence in MCA leadership circles – and indirectly the  Barisan Nasional government of which it is the second biggest component party – has become its biggest image problem. In the past, MCA was ridiculed as “Money Counts All”. Now there are postings on the Internet lampooning  MCA as “Malaysian Criminals Association”.  What is even more serious, this new image problem of MCA has also  threatened to become an image problem of the Chinese community, as MCA claims to represent the Chinese community, as illustrated by the PAS Youth call for root-and-branch investigation into the triad links of MCA  Ka Ting’s  first  biggest challenge as MCA President is whether he is prepared to take decisive, effective and pro-active action  to categorically and unequivocally disprove  all suspicions about triad links, involvement, infiltration and involvement in MCA by submitting himself and the MCA leadership to a full public commission of inquiry to clear the MCA and government of all triad links and influence. (24/7/2003) * Lim Kit Siang, DAP National Chairman