Shame on your hypocrisy, MCA

I have a lot to say about MCA’s hypocrisy, especially after reading an article about the Rawang residents who have finally reached a good conclusion on their struggle with Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB).

First, let me congratulate the residents, Rawang state assemblyperson Gan Pei Nei and Selayang MP William Leong for their sweet victory, as well as both TNB and the Selangor government for coming up with a good compromise. No one in particular would have liked to live in an area with the huge pylons and high tension power cables.

What made me boil is when I read the claims made by Selayang MCA division chief Goh Ah Ling and Selayang MCA Youth chief Chan Wun Hoong, who said that the victory was the result of MCA’s efforts.

The same names cropped up - names that I was familiar with, some 15 years ago - Chan Kong Choy, Chua Soi Lek, Ong Ka Ting. And I should add others like Tang See Hang (former Rawang state assemblyperson), Wong Kung Foo (personal assistant to Kong Choy), Michael Chong and former Kepong Community Service Centre head Yee Poh Ping.

Some of these stories happened more than 15 years ago, but they are still fresh on my mind. The most recent one was with another MCA cabinet minister, Wee Ka Siong, over the Public Service Department (JPA) scholarship cuts.

Let it be known

I was writing as a part-time journalist, covering a wide area at the time. On one particular visit to Jinjang, I noticed that the children there were playing on a playground where most of the equipment was already damaged over the years.

As Dr Tan Seng Giaw was the Kepong MP, I contacted him to ask why the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) had failed to repair the basketball court. He told me he had already requested for a budget - which was approved - but that DBKL was dragging its feet with the repair job.

Soon after my article was published, DBKL carried out a massive repair job and upgraded the field, turning half of it into a football field. When the work was completed, Yee took the limelight to claim credit for the work done.

Do you think Yee was so “powerful” to have raised a huge budget within a short span of time? I could only shake my head and say that he can tell that to young kindergarten children, but not to most of us who know that it takes at least a year before a request is submitted and the budget approved by DBKL.

Then came the problem of the land title for my housing estate. One of the first persons I had to approach was Chan Kong Choy - who was Selayang MP at the time - and then Rawang state assemblyperson Tang See Hang.

Several meetings were organised by Tang and Chan’s personal assistant, Wong Kung Foo, but there had been no positive outcome from the discussions - to the point that I had to fire at Wong one fine day, “Stop playing ‘tai chi’ and ‘kung fu’ with us house buyers!”

Their game was always to organise meetings; thereafter, there would be no follow-ups to solve the issue. A copy of the meeting’s minutes had not even been extended to the residents. Even if the local council had produced the minutes later, they were too brief to be of any use for future reference!

I had the same response from MCA public complaints bureau chief Michael Chong. After personally making a trip to Wisma MCA in Jalan Ampang to submit the complaint in writing, I tried to follow up with him and his office a month later.

To my horror, they did not even have a good system to file the complaints. When they asked me for the date of the letter which I had submitted, I noticed how ridiculous their filing system was. And because I did not bring a copy of the letter, I decided to just forget about getting help from MCA.

For the same reason, when a schoolmate of mine asked for help regarding the land title to his housing estate, I told him not to waste time with the ‘tai chi’ and ‘kung fu’ panda guys at MCA.

But because he told me that his brother was a bigwig in MCA, his first priority was to look for Chan. I left it at that. After more than a year of pursuing with Chan, my friend finally told me that he gave up. Not to my surprise, he was also disappointed with all the ‘tai chi’ that he received.

Immediately after the 2008 general election, I introduced my schoolmate to William Leong, who had just been elected as the new Selayang MP. Apparently, I was not the only one who was disillusioned with MCA. Suffice to say, Chan had lost to PKR candidate Leong.

Chan immediately called for a meeting, where over a hundred residents had turned up on that morning. Everyone had been waiting for the land title for over 25 years.

Nearly half a year later, Leong called another meeting with the residents. I attended it as a part-time reporter and to my delight, there was at least some progress ongoing.

Leong, a lawyer by profession, told the residents his next course of action - which was to apply to wind up the company Sedaya Sdn Bhd, if the developer failed to apply for the land title. He brought along a liquidator as well, and someone to explain to the residents why the master title could not be subdivided.

Since then, the residents of Taman Daya have finally seen light at the end of the tunnel - they received their land title, thanks to the hardworking Leong!

Stop the trumpeting

Many of us are, in fact, fed up with MCA for one reason or another. For too many years, they have been in the government - either serving as ministers or other important positions - to the point that they have become irrelevant to the people. They seem to be more interested in their perks, than to serve the people.

Former housing and local government minister Ting Chew Peh was an example of what I am saying. Over my land title issue, I remember having a meeting with his then deputy minister, Azmi Khalid.

We were waiting at Azmi’s conference room with him but he told us that he, too, felt insulted because the developer’s representatives went to visit Ting upstairs instead of attending the meeting with residents. We did not get our land title until a few years later.

Ting, as an MCA minister, was a big disappointment to my fellow Malaysians who attended the inaugural meeting of the National House Buyers Association. There was such a heated argument during the meeting - to the point that Ting had to be ushered out by the organisers before he was about to be bashed up.

So, my advice to MCA is: stop the trumpeting around, or you will just be getting more brickbats; like the other Selayang MCA lady who became notoriously known for her “tow truck” comments during a public debate.

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STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008. -Mkini