Former MCA President Tan Sri Dr Chua Soi Lek is correct in judging his successor and current MCA President Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai as weak, cowardly and even deceitful when Liow backed down from his earlier pledge to demand in Cabinet, that Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob retract and apologise for his inflammatory statement that consumers boycott Chinese traders for refusing to reduce prices and that the Chinese oppresses the Malays.
Is this how Liow fulfil his vow to fight for justice for the maligned Chinese community by accepting that Ismail merely issue an official clarification instead of of a retraction AND apology as MCA promised to the Chinese community? Such betrayal and cowardice by Liow in not daring to “practice what he preaches’ is more painful because Ismail lied by blaming Chinese traders for not reducing prices of basic necessities.
Ismail lied because most the of the basic necessities like rice, sugar and oil as well as services like insurance, banking and transport are no longer controlled by the Chinese but by UMNO or BN cronies? Further Ismail has shown himself to be unfit to be a Minister for all Malaysians when he claimed that the Chinese oppressed the Malays without showing any proof.
To blame the Chinese community for not reducing prices of goods that are controlled by UMNO and BN cronies, is a dishonest and dishonourable tactic to distract attention from UMNO’s failure to manage the economy and the rising cost of living, as well as the numerous financial scandals such as 1MDB and RM1.4 trillion lost from the outflow of illicit funds.
How long must the Chinese community suffer from being unfairly maligned by UMNO leaders. Before Ismail, another outrageous and inflammatory lie was by former UMNO Deputy Minister Dr Mashitah Ibrahim during the UMNO General Assembly last year that the Chinese community in Kedah had burned the Quran in a Chinese prayer ritual when it was done by a deranged Malay Muslim male. In the same UMNO General Assembly, UMNO Permatang Pauh Division Chairman Datuk Mohd Zaidi Mohd Said made a false claim that the political and economic strength of the Chinese in Penang comes from illegal economic activities such as illegal gambling, prostitution and entertainment outlets.
And yet UMNO leaders remained silent over Minister of Home Affairs Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s act to vouch unsolicited, the integrity and character of gambling kingpin Paul Phua, when Ahmad attempted to secure Paul Phua’s release from being detained by the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Home Minister even claimed that Paul had assisted Malaysia’s national interests without explaining how a gambling kingpin could assist in protecting Malaysia’s national interests.
There is no need for DAP to unmask UMNO’s true character as racists and extremists. But there is a need to reveal the MCA leaders’ true character, exposed by Tan Sri Dr Chua Soi Lek as weak, cowardly and deceitful, when MCA backed down from their demand of an apology and retraction by Ismail Sabri to only an official clarification and that MCA will not co-operate with DAP to demand that Ismail retract and apologise to the Chinese community. Just as the Chinese community will never forget UMNO’s lies and attacks against them, MCA will not be forgiven for this historic betrayal.