Do you believe in political morality, Mr Prime Minister?

Today's NST report says that MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat and his former nemesis Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek have decided to bury the hatchet after more than a year of acrimonious squabbling, agreeing on a "greater unity plan", which is said to have the support of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
This dramatic development came as a big surprise not only to outsiders, but to many MCA members even.
There is no doubt that the Prime Minister Najib must have intervened and forced the formula on the two factions. The interesting question is why has he decided to force upon them a solution that has not met the three factors which he has publicly declared as a must in any solution.

On Oct 16, Najib told the MCA that the solution to MCA's leadership quandary must not only be legally correct but also morally and politically acceptable.He said that the MCA must take steps based on these factors or it would never win the support of the Chinese community.

Many political analysts have interpreted Najib's comments as his clear message to both Ong and Chua that they will have to go as morally both are not suitable to lead MCA. Ong has to relinquish his presidency because the MCA's recent EGM has passed a no confidence motion against his leadership while Chua's DVD sex scandal has tainted his image.

Can Najib say that the MCA's unity plan has met his three factors? The answer is definitely no.Is the greater unity plan in accordance with the decision of the EGM ? The answer is also a definite no.
Why then has Najib ignored his earlier demands? The obvious answer is that he is desperate to see MCA crisis resolved as soon as possible.
It is generally expected that Najib will be making all out election preparation by way of promoting his 1 Malaysia concept for the next 18 months and then announce dissolution of Parliament. So it is only natural that he does not want news of MCA crisis to derail his election preparation.

But MCA's solution has again proven that Najib does not really care about the meaning of " political morality" .If he truly believes in political morality, he should have asked both Ong and Chua to relinquish the MCA leadership positions and roles. If he is serious about upholding political morality, he ought to call for the dissolution of Perak state government.

Comments