KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 21): Tan Sri Chua Soi Lek, who served as MCA president from 2010 to 2013, has called for a change of leadership in the party ahead of its election on Nov 4. The party is now led by Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, with Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong as his deputy.
Chua described MCA as being in its "most distressed moment" after failing to defend federal power as part of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition in the 14th General Election (GE14) on May 9.
"The current leadership is (still) in the stage of denial and has failed to make bold decisions. Today, party members are frustrated, discouraged and struggling after GE14. And having party leaders who are not able to address the party's issues is making matters worse for them. If I am the party president, the first thing I would do is to leave BN," he told reporters at the launch of his 632-page memoir entitled "Like me or Hate me: Rising from the Political Ashes" today.
"What we have is a central party leader who says that we (MCA) do not have to leave, but rather we should sack Umno from the coalition. This has become the biggest political joke of the year. This kind of statement is not going to inspire confidence," Chua, who was also former health minister, said.
In his address at the MCA Selangor Convention 2018 last month, Liow was reported as saying that MCA will not withdraw from BN and issued a warning that Umno could be kicked out of BN if the party moves towards theocratic politics.
Chua acknowledged that BN is no longer a political brand name, urging MCA members to face the reality and leave the coalition. In June, the other Chinese-dominated party Gerakan had exited the BN coalition to be an independent Opposition party.
"Everyone should move out and build on their own, transform themselves. They could form a partnership again in the future after they become stronger. Umno has to change its attitude to accept that it is in trouble, so does MCA," he said.
Chua also called on his fellow MCA members to "make good use of your votes" at next month's party election.
"We must vote for a leadership that can give hope and inspiration to grassroot MCA members, but not a leadership of total denial, which is certain to be doomed to fail. The new leadership should be brave to say and do the right thing, and we must be brave to change the leadership," he said.
In GE14, MCA faced its greatest defeat since its establishment, having left with just one parliamentary seat and two state assembly seats.
Chua said the defeat was a result of weak MCA leadership, consisting his own son Datuk Chua Tee Yong as the party vice-president, as it did not dare to question national scandals at 1Malaysia Development Bhd, the Federal Land Development Authority and Majlis Amanah Rakyat.
Earlier at his book launch, which was also attended by MCA presidential candidate Gan Ping Sieu, 400 copies of the book were sold in 30 minutes.
Chua jokingly said as he grows older, writing an autobiography was to help keep his brain active until the age of 93 – indirectly referring to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
"I do not mean to offend anybody by writing this book. It is a process of self educating and better use of my time. I hope there will be more MCA leaders who will also share their past experience, allowing people to better understand the contributions of past MCA leaders to the nation," he said.
In his memoir, Chua tells the story of how he faced various obstacles before staging a comeback in his political career, and was elected the president of the MCA and chairman of the Penang Port Commission in 2010. He eventually retired from politics in 2013 after GE13.
The memoir chronicles Chua's life thus far, from his childhood and his climb up the political ladder, including his entry into the Malaysian Parliament and appointment as the health minister in 2004, as well as the video sex scandal that led to his resignation from all public and political offices in 2008.