The decision of the 2,377 central delegates at the landmark Oct 10 EGM will determine the direction of the party for years to come.
THE fate of the MCA - a party founded in 1949 to save the Chinese from repatriation to China in the aftermath of a communist insurrection - is in the balance with its delegates deciding who should lead the party at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Oct 10.
Only one winner will be left standing. It has been a year since Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat was elected president of the party and he has reformed and strengthened the party for the biggest battle of all – the next general election.
The MCA has weathered numerous internal and external crises – from the May 13 race riots, severe economic recessions to overcoming the challenges of providing education, business and employment opportunities for the Chinese community.
Despite occasional setbacks, the MCA has fared reasonably well until a combination of factors, some beyond its control, saw a political tsunami in the March 8, 2008 general election.
Compared with other Barisan Nasional component parties like the People’s Progressive Party, the MIC and Gerakan, the MCA also suffered defeats but held its own in traditional strongholds across the country.
Unlike other parties, the MCA is on a stronger footing to reform and reinvent itself, given the opportunity.
But herein is the paradox – the party is finally united under a strong and committed leader in Ong and yet it has been plunged into a crisis.
Should the MCA be led by the strong-willed incumbent president or should leadership pass to Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, who was sacked but later suspended for four years?
Dr Chua, who is married with grown children, was a rising star in the party and community until his fall from grace with the emergence of video showing him having sex with a woman in a hotel room in Johor in December 2007.
He admitted that he was the man involved and quit all posts but later decided to claw his way back as deputy president of the party against the odds.
Now he wants not only to be reinstated but is asking the delegates to pass a vote of no confidence against Ong, thus igniting the current crisis.
Considering the weakened state of the Barisan and that the MCA, like the other Barisan political parties are desperately fighting for survival, the party could certainly do without the in-fighting.
The fate of the party rests squarely in the hands of the 2,377 central delegates who would seal the future of the MCA for years to come.
They have to decide whether to give Ong a resounding vote of confidence or allow the leadership to go to Dr Chua, whose sexual indiscretion, as in any other society, would have disqualified him as a leader. The delegates have to choose – a quick and decisive end to the crisis or a long-drawn out struggle within the party.
The MCA has travelled that path before and paid the price for it.
But in the past, the Barisan was strong. Today neither the MCA nor the Barisan has public support for the MCA to pull out from the coalition, although temporarily.
Dr Chua, despite his obvious handicap, has refused to bow out of politics. If the resolution to reinstate him as deputy president is carried, it will automatically trigger an upheaval in the MCA. Ong has said he would resign along with others in the Presidential Council if the delegates pass the resolution of no confidence against him.
He wants a resounding show of support from the delegates for him to remain as president.
For Ong, it is either him or chaos.
That is the choice the delegates will have to make.
If Ong is defeated, there will be major risks for the MCA, the Barisan and the Chinese community, Ong’s supporters say.
The party will have to go through the throes of fresh elections.
With Ong out of the picture and Dr Chua declared unfit, neither the party nor the Chinese community would be represented in the cabinet for months, if not years, until the leadership crisis is resolved.
When there is a crisis in the MCA, the Chinese community will be affected and this give the Pakatan Rakyat an upper hand in the next general election.
If the crisis is not ended decisively the next general election may well be a coup de grace for the MCA.
That’s why the fate of the MCA is squarely in the hands of the delegates probably more so now than at any time in the party’s history.
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