By Lim Guan ENg, MP for Bagan
The 3 new MCA and Gerakan Ministers should demand that Cabinet rejects the implementation of Hudud laws during their first cabinet meeting on Wednesday and that Home Affairs Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi apologise for calling the Chinese ungrateful during the Teluk Intan by-election and that DAP Sri Delima ADUN RSN Rayer deserved the cow’s head attack on Rayer’s home in Penang. MCA and Gerakan had publicly opposed the implementation of Hudud laws and criticised Ahmad Zahid for condoning the cow head attack on Rayer’s home by saying that this was the price Rayer had to pay for being a “big mouth.”
What is the point of becoming a Cabinet Minister if they remain silent and dare not speak up in Cabinet meetings what they had loudly opposed outside in the press? This is similar to the Selangor UMNO Opposition Leader stating that UMNO’s motion in the Selangor State Assembly to study the implementation of Hudud laws in Selangor was conveyed to MCA President Liow Tiong who had kept quiet.
All 3 new MCA and Gerakan Cabinet Ministers should then report to the public whether they raised up these issues and what the Cabinet’s decision is. There is no point for MCA Deputy President Wee Ka Siong to claim that they got lesser representation in Cabinet because MCA got lesser Chinese support in the last general elections. Such logic is immature and perverse because it is akin to punishing the voters for failing to get their support.
If getting more support from Chinese voters is the yardstick for getting more Cabinet posts, then MCA should explain the reasons why when they won big in the 1999 and 2004 general elections, and yet the number of Cabinet posts for MCA remained at four. Chinese voters even saved UMNO from defeat when a majority of Malay voters rejected UMNO and supported PAS and PKR in the 1999 general elections.
But yet the number of Cabinet positions for MCA did not increase but remained the same at four in 1999 and 2004 general elections. By right if MCA still gets 4 Ministers despite winning big then they should still remain at four when they lose. This clearly proves once again that it is UMNO’s dominance that matters not how much support obtained by MCA. UMNO’s dominance is emphasised further when MCA MPs who won in the 2013 general elections were not appointed Deputy Ministers but those who were rejected by the voters instead were appointed Senators and Deputy Ministers through the “back door”.
Cabinet Ministers should be evaluated and assessed based on policy understanding, ability, performance and effectiveness to embrace the future by bringing about reforms. As long as MCA and Gerakan can not change policy under the shadow of UMNO’s dominance, it does not matter to the public how many Ministers they have for it is not the public but MCA leaders who benefit by enjoying the perks and privileges of Ministerial office.
