IPOH, January 25 — This is the sad state of affairs that we are living in when the Deputy Minister for National Unity keep spewing the Chinese VS Chinese narrative. The reality is, a majority of Malaysian Chinese voted for DAP which is a multiracial party as opposed to his party- a monoethnic party.

Surely this is something a Deputy Minister of National Unity should be applauding. Yes, we understand that his party is really trying hard to extract relevance from the power and prominence they have sold their souls to obtain. But REALLY? The National Unity deputy minister sowing seeds of intra-ethnic division using the racial card? That is absurd and regressive politics of the highest order.

But MCA leaders, especially those who are in power are no strangers to regressive rhetoric, since their raison d’etre is to claim representation of one ethnic community only. Such a shame that a sole monoethnic Chinese party that has been around since the foundation of our nation is still referring to the rights of its representee community as minority rights.

The deputy Minister proudly claimed of his party’s “effective diplomacy and pragmatic governance” in the past. Undeniably, they were effective and pragmatic, but only in setting aside their alleged struggles and the needs of the community they claim to represent, resulting in many of their leaders amassing huge wealth. All this whilst many in the Chinese community are struggling to make ends meet; a situation that is exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Let me not be the judge of their effectiveness and governance competencies; let their electoral performances in the last decade and a half be the judge.

For a political party whose very survival is dependent almost entirely on votes from demographics outside of whom they claim to represent, it is audaciously hypocritical to bark at the party supported by their target audience.

Let me also point to the fact that in 2014, the deputy minister accused that PAS, under the leadership of the late Tok Guru Nik Aziz , a leader respected by friend and foe, was “in essence a radical party with no tolerance of multiculturalism or secularism.” This accusation is on public record. DAP realised that a continued alliance with the same party that has transitioned to Haji Hadi’s leadership would be a mistake.

Those who were representing the progressive and professional faction in PAS were naturally not aligned to Haji Hadi. This is the basis of the exodus of PAS members from the party who went on to form Amanah and is still a loyal coalition partner under the ambit of Pakatan Harapan.

It is clear that the deputy minister has now chosen to embrace the party that MCA views as extreme and radical. Furthermore, their ‘unholy polygamous matrimony’ is held together by the likes of Muhyiddin’s PPBM, Umno and MIC.

DAP was given the people’s mandate to be part of the federal government for at least 5 years. The Pakatan Harapan government was entrusted to reverse the six decades of rot that the Barisan Nasional government had jointly created. But they themselves along with the ‘radical and intolerant’ PAS were instrumental in betraying the people’s mandate, by staging a series of political coups d’etat- first at the federal level then at several states.

Question that remains unanswered, apart from the rot that they created, what did they do about all the allegedly failings of DAP’s 22 months, in the six decades during BN’s rule, and now a year after the power grab?

It must be made clear, the points made by the deputy minister on the dilemmas faced by the Chinese community contain some truths. However, the untruths outweigh the truth as his party has a penchant to disseminate fake news. For instance, MCA claims to represent and fight for the Chinese community’s interest, when in fact it is only championing the interests of their own leaders who happen to be Chinese.

The MCA is not concerned about the issues faced by the Chinese and this has led the Chinese community rejecting them. Being back in government with the ‘radical and intolerant’ PAS, and the traitorous and treacherous PPBM, has secured the nail in the coffin.

This is what happens when a political party claims to represent, and fails the community that it has but chosen to betray.

*Howard Lee Chuan How is Perak State Legislative Assemblyman for Pasir Pinji and Democratic Action Party Social Youth (DAPSY) Malaysia Chief.

**This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.

https://www.malaymail.com/news/what-you-think/2021/01/25/response-to-ti-lian-ker-howard-lee-chuan-how/1943888