My profile
By
Chua Jui Meng
I was
able to read law in London by working 12 hours a day as a factory labourer,
waiter and porter for nine months every year to fund my ambition to be a
lawyer. Basically, I am a reformist and a democrat at heart. In 1988, while I
was a young MCA Member of Parliament, I debated for two hours in Parliament,
articulating my arguments over the deficiency of the New Economic Policy (NEP).
I was stopped by Ibrahim Ali who successfully urged the Speaker to reprimand me
for asking for equal treatment and rights for all Malaysians (http://chuajuimeng123.blogspot.com/2012/10/chua-on-nep-in-1988.html).
In July 2005, again I debated with Umno
Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin on TV3’s Exchange
over the dispute on NEP’s 30% bumiputra equity target. There was much public
outcry when the government maintained that it had only achieved 18.7%. I
maintained that there must be something wrong with the figures or the
implementation for the statistic to remain unchanged after 20 years.
I
objected to the flawed implementation and distortions of the NEP. The debate
was widely publicised but MCA remained silent over the NEP issues I raised.
This
was followed by the then Asli researcher Dr Lim Teck Ghee who found that Malays
already had at least 45% control of the equity market. The government disputed
his findings and he quit (http://pgoh13.com/thinktank_manquits.php).
After the 2004 General Election, I was
not reappointed a minister after I took a strong stand against MCA’s
acquisition of Nanyang Holdings Bhd.
The
takeover resulted in a mini-monopoly of the four national Chinese vernacular
newspapers – Nanyang Siang Pau, China Press, Sin Chew Jit Poh and Guang Ming
Daily News – all under the Rimbunan Hijau Group.
For
not behaving as a ‘Yes Man’, I risked my position as Health Minister and was
removed by Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Dr Ling Liong Sik who were in favour of
seizing control of the publications to stifle the freedom of Chinese
newspapers.
That’s
when I expounded my theory of “fish and water”– MCA the fish, the Chinese
community the water.
The
water can reject the fish but the fish cannot reject the water. This means if
the MCA claims that it represents the interests of the Chinese community and
champions its rights, the MCA must listen to the voice of those whom they claim
to champion.
I then tried my best to revitalise MCA,
coming up with a very elaborate manifesto of reform for the party in my two
bids for the presidency in 2005 and 2008. Unfortunately, the MCA central
delegates did not heed my warnings that MCA was heading for political doom.
As
far back as 2005 (or seven years ago) I could see that the Chinese tolerance
level of MCA’s subservience to Umno had been breached. After the 2008 political
tsunami, I even went as far as saying that MCA must be prepared to quit the
Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition if Umno refuses to abandon its corrupt ways.
The
rest is history and I am now here, on a new platform, to fight for justice and
a fair government. De facto Pakatan Rakyat leader Anwar Ibrahim has said it
clearly that he intends to do away with race-based policies to fast track
Malaysia’s socio-economic growth if the rakyat
(people) gives us the mandate to govern after the 13th General
Election.
It
is time to change. This time we must change.
