2010

Datuk Sim Mow Yu – UTAR Chinese Studies Scholarship Fund

On 3 January 2010, MCA President Dato’ Sri Ong Tee Keat announced the establishment of the Datuk Sim Mow Yu UTAR Chinese Studies Scholarship Fund, in memory of Datuk Sim Mow Yu, who had selflessly contributed to the improvement of Chinese education and the community.

The President had also pointed out that UTAR’s Chinese Studies Course is recognized by the Public Service Department, thus enabling students to pursue their career in the civil service. He also added that the party had donated RM 1million to start the Fund.

Dato’ Sri Ong Tee Keat and Party Secretary-General Dato’ Wong Foon Meng, accompanied by Datuk Gan Tian Loo, had paid a visit to the former residence of the late Datuk Sim to meet his family and to seek their consent on the establishment of the Fund before making the announcement.

Besides that, the President also pointed out that one of the halls in MCA Headquarters will be named after the late educationist in honor of his contributions and so that the party can continue the his efforts.

Datuk Sim Mow Yu’s daughter, Sim Kay Hong was at the ceremony to represent the family.

328 Party Fresh Polls

On 4 March 2010, Deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek submitted his resignation letter along with 7 others from the party’s Central Committee. Adding this number together with the earlier resignations of 13 other Central Committee members, the total number of resignations was brought to 21, thus paving the way for fresh elections.

The Central Committee consists of 25 elected members, a Party President, a Deputy President, and 4 Vice-Presidents, bringing the total number of committee members to 31. Therefore, to facilitate a fresh party election, a minimum of 21 members, or at least two-thirds of the committee, must resigned.

As per the Party Constitution, Section 41 states that if at least two-thirds of the Central Committee resigns, a fresh party election must be held within a months’ time. Accordingly, on 5 March 2010, the remaining members of the Central Committee appointed Secretary-General Dato’ Wong Foon Meng as coordinator of the fresh party elections for a new Central Committee. Subsequently, he announced that fresh elections will be held on 28 March 2010 at the San Choon Hall, MCA Headquarters.

On 28 March 2010, the day of the fresh elections, a total of 101 representatives had submitted their nomination papers. The attendance rate of the Central Delegates was 97.52%, a total of 2318 delegates.

The vote counting process was done in a transparent manner, meaning that the process was done in the hall under the full supervision of the Central Delegates and candidates. In addition to that, the procedure can also be viewed live on a television placed outside the hall for public viewing.

The results of the election showed that the delegates had chosen Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek and Dato’ Sri Liow Tiong Lai to be the Party President and Deputy President respectively.

Results of the 328 Fresh Party Polls

President
Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek

Deputy President
Dato’ Sri Liow Tiong Lai

Vice-President
Dato’ Sri Dr Ng Yen Yen
Senator Dato’ Donald Lim Siang Chai
Dato’ Wira Chor Chee Heung
Senator Gan Ping Sieu

Central Committee members
Dato’ Lee Chee Leong
Dato’ Dr Hou Kok Chung
Senator Heng Seai Kie
Datuk Wee Jeck Seng
Sdr. Toh Chin Yaw
Datuk Gan Tian Loo
Dato’ Seri Ong Ka Chuan
Sdr. Lee Wei Kiat
Sdr. Loh Seng Kok
Dato’ Hoh Khai Mun
Dato’ Liew Yuen Keong
Sdri. Tan Cheng Liang
Dato’ Koh Nai Kwong
Sdr Dr Por Choo Chor
Sdr. Tan Ken Ten
Datuk Paul Kong Sing Chu
Dato’ Chong Itt Chew
Sdr. Yoo Wei How
Sdri Tan Ah Eng
Sdr Wong Koon Mun
Dato’ Ti Lian Ker
Dato’ Teh Kim Poo
Sdr Chuah Poh Khiang

Cabinet Reshuffle

On 4 June 2010, Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak carried out a minor Cabinet reshuffle. Through the President’s efforts, MCA successfully obtained two important portfolios i.e. Deputy Minister of Agriculture & Agro-based Industry and also the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs. By the said reshuffle, MCA has altogether 4 full Ministers and 7 Deputy Ministers as follows:

8-Point Action Plan for the 13th General Elections

On 20 June 2010, in preparation for the 13th General Elections, party President Datuk Seri Dr Chua  Soi Lek summarised the 8-Point Action Plan as follows:

1. Voter registration: MCA Headquarters revealed that about 15% of party members have not registered as voters. Therefore, the HQ will provide assistance to hire people and provide a voter list, while Divisions are tasked with tracking down and providing help for these members who qualify to register as voters.

2. Reaching out to youth voters: New Villages face an aging population where approximately 30% of new village voters are youths who work outside the constituency. The youths might not understand the real situation of their own constituency; they can be easily incited and vote based on emotions. The Headquarters will ask party members at branch level to collect names and contact numbers of their relatives and friends who work outside the constituency, in order to enhance interaction and communication with these youth voters, so that they are always in touch with MCA.  Central leaders will be assigned to interact with these young voters.

3. Enhancing new media warfare: MCA Divisions must pay attention to publicity, especially through online media. Divisions will need to train more on new media warfare expertise, in order to conduct new media warfare with the use of blogs, Facebook or Twitter.

4. MCA leaders’ online media propaganda: All MCA state members must set up a personal website, in order to refute the false allegations of the Opposition, expose the malpractices of Pakatan Rakyat at the same time to promote the BN agenda.

5. Strengthening publicity in mainstream media: MCA central to Divisions will have to know the importance of publicity through mainstream media. MCA publicity in the mainstream media has a lot of problems, leading voters to hold a negative impression of MCA.

6. Emphasis on democracy, freedom and fairness: MCA members should change i.e. not only looking after drainage but must be aware that people want to see fair and democratic policies, such as equal opportunities in education policies.

7. Taking a political stand: MCA must take a political stand on every important policy. It should be issue centric and not ethnocentric.  MCA leaders should request a dialogue with the the respective state BN Chief and let the Chinese community know about MCA’s contribution.

8. Make good use of party resources so that Divisions have adequate resources to undertake activities: To ensure that party assets are safeguarded, an asset management firm will be appointed to manage party assets professionally. They are requested to submit a report to the Presidential Council 3 times per year.

Re-commencement of the Annual General Meeting

MCA held its 57th Annual General Meeting on the 10 October 2010. This was the first time the AGM was held after the internal party disputes and the 328 party re-elections. It was also a profound significance as Dato’ Sri Najib Tun Razak, in his capacity as the Prime Minister and Chairman of Barisan Nasional, had launched the opening ceremony for the first time.

MCA President Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek had urged all members of the party to remain united in his speech during the General Assembly. He said that if we are not united within the party, it will be difficult to obtain the support of non-party members and the public. He also reminded MCA members that if BN continues to win in the next election but still fails to rally the support of the Chinese, then MCA will have a tough time ahead in politics, rendering us in MCA ineffective in politics.

To welcome the challenges from the new media, especially in dealing with attacks from politically inspired news, MCA took the opportunity during the Annual General Assembly to launch our new official website and facebook account with the Prime Minister launching them at the opening ceremony. Besides that, the party President also formally introduced his facebook account.

Marching towards the by-elections, Return of Chinese votes

Immediately after Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek took over as MCA President, he had to face his first steep challenge imposed by the Hulu Selangor Parliamentary by-election on 25 April 2010.

In comparison with 308 where 35% of the Chinese gave their support to BN, a pre-by-election survey suggested that Chinese constituents favouring BN had slump to 14%. Additionally, MCA was drawn to participate in this by-election immediately after the party had ended its inter-party disputes which had lasted a year. However, after the by-election result was announced, Chinese support for BN grew to 28%. Considering the two factors above, the 28% figure can be seen as a relatively satisfactory result given the circumstances. Thus, Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek had managed to overcome the first challenge.

On 4 November 2010, the by-elections for the Kelantan state seat of Galas and the Sabah Parliamentary seat of Batu Sapi were held. Barisan Nasional had managed to hold a crucial victory in retaining the Chinese votes from these two by-elections, winning by a majority of 1,190 and 6,359 votes respectively. This was followed by the Tenang state seat by-election in Johor on the 30 January 2011, the Merlimau state seat by-election in Melaka and the Kerdau state seat by-election in Pahang which were held simultaneously on 6 March 2010. In all of these, MCA proved to be the victor with excellent results as the Chinese votes favouring BN were high. This success reflects that after half a year of regrouping and revamping political strategies, MCA’s new leadership had applied the correct political strategies and a pragmatic style of leadership and has begun to gain back the support and trust of the Chinese community.

Third Barisan Nasional Convention

Given MCA President Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek’s high profile political style, he spoke without fear on 5 December 2010 at the 3rd BN Convention, saying that there should not be any ‘big brother’ or ‘small brother’ scenario within the coalition. Instead, all members should be partners of equal footing. Therefore, MCA believes that any important national policy should not be announced during any UMNO Annual General Assembly or at any UMNO Supreme Council Meetings, because these two bodies are not equivalent to the Cabinet. He also reiterated that BN leaders should stop using sensitive words such as ‘ketuanan Melayu’, ‘penumpang’ and ‘pendatang’. His outspoken remarks later received criticism from UMNO, including UMNO Vice President Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein. However, the President stood firm on the party’s position, insisting that he said what needed to be said.

1MCA Medical Foundation

On 28 September 2010, MCA President Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek announced that the party would be setting up a 1MCA Medical Foundation to cater to all Malaysians of all races who require medical attention and treatment but do not have medical insurance nor can ill-afford the high expenses incurred when seeking treatment and recovery from private hospitals.

On 14 October 2010, four month old Ang Tien Teck, who suffers from ventricular septal defect (VSD) or hole-in-the-heart, became the first recipient of the Foundation, when the President announced that MCA will pay the shortfall of the hospital bills for the patient. The President had read about the patient’s condition in the newspapers and had visited Ang at the Gleneagles Intan Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur.

Unified Examination Certificates (UEC) holders allowed to enrol in teacher training colleges

On 6 December 2010, MCA President Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek announced that the government has formally accepted MCA’s proposal to allow all students who have completed their SPM with credits in Bahasa Malaysia and 3 other subjects (including Chinese language), can apply to enter teacher training colleges. This is the first major breakthrough in education for Chinese Independent schools in 30 years. The first batch of students, who had completed their UEC exams and have applied to go to teacher training colleges can undergo the courses in 2011.

Party Assets Management Report

The special committee responsible for managing the party’s assets in a professional way made its first report to the MCA Presidential Council and the MCA Central Committee in December 2010. This was also MCA’s first ever asset report. This special committee has to report to the MCA Presidential Council and the Central Committee twice a year to brief the members. President Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek had also made an honorable promise to assign all assets to be managed professionally so that the party’s assets are safeguarded and optimised while ensuring democracy and transparency.

2011

Number of Chinese Primary Schools Increased, 15 New Schools Built and 76 Relocated

Since our nation’s independence, one fact that cannot be denied is that the number of our Chinese primary schools has decreased over the years. This was because our nation’s Chinese population distribution has increased dramatically in the city and town areas, causing a lack of enrolment in Chinese primary schools in the outskirts. The BN government has never purposely closed down any Chinese schools. All schools that were shut down automatically were done so due to a lack of students. For any Chinese, Malay, Tamil or sekolah agama rakyat (SAR), all of them are bound by law to shut down automatically when there are severe lacking in enrolled students. Opposition parties and Chinese rights groups often used such opportunities to fabricate allegations against the BN government.

The BN government places great emphasis on Chinese pupils’ rights to mother tongue education. Through MCA’s efforts, the government announced that any Chinese primary school whether abundant or minimal in number of students will not be shut down automatically. MCA has also actively assisted them in by relocating the Chinese primary schools from the outskirts to denser populated areas. From 1999 to 2011, the Government has successfully constructed 15 new schools and relocated 76 of them. During that timeframe from 2008 to 2011, MCA collaborated with the United Chinese School Committees Association of Malaysia (UCSCAM or Dong Zong) and the Parents Teachers Association (PIBG), to obtain a RM95 million allocation from the government for school building committees to proceed with the construction of 7 new Chinese primary schools and the relocation of 13 Chinese primary schools. The Government has also approved on the proposal to reserve certain lands for the establishment of new Chinese primary schools to meet the increasing demand for Chinese primary schools.

Under Anwar’s leadership as Minister of Education, the total number of Chinese primary schools was only 1,281. Through years of relentless effort by MCA, Chinese primary schools numbers have stopped decreasing and have risen to 1,291 schools.

Establishment of the 1 Malaysia Community Alliance Foundation (1MCA)

On 27 February 2011, MCA successfully set up the 1 Malaysia Community Alliance Foundation (1MCA) mobile community service. In a short duration of 3 months, the service expanded to a number of sttes, reaching Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Johor and Terengganu. Through this fleet of mobile service vehicles, MCA achieved its goal to build a bridge of understanding and communication with the people and to lighten their burdens. The mobile outreach vehicles provided aid and services in free health screening, free legal consultation, welfare aid applications, SME loans, citizenship application for locals without proper documentation despite having being born and bred in Malaysia all their lives and foreign spouses and other government assistance.

Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM)

On 22 February 2011, 2,201 (93.18%) out of 2,362 central delegates requisitioned for an EGM to amend the party Constitution to allow postponement of party polls to prepare for the General Elections.
On 13 March 2011 MCA convened the EGM whereby 1,894, or 80.19% of the 2,362 central delegates had registered their attendance to vote on the amendment. During balloting time, a total of 1,827 (99.07%) out of 1,844 central delegates present at the assembly voted for the amendment of the party Constitution to defer the party polls in light of the upcoming General Elections. The initial March party polls were deferred to no more than 6 months after the conclusion of the General Elections. On that day of the EGM, 50 were not present during voting.

Article 167 of the party Constitution was amended so that the Central Committee may postpone the elections of the Party at all levels to a date not later than six (6) months (prior to the initial three (3) months) after the conclusion of the General Elections for the country. The Central Committee shall not make such decision for postponement until thirty-six (36) months (prior to the initial forty-two (42) months) after the last General Elections unless the Government calls for a snap General Elections.

The President commended the delegates for giving MCA the greatest and most precious gift of all, which is their love and respect for the party. He applauded the delegates for treating the party’s best interests as their priority to prepare the party for the upcoming General Elections.

MCA’s Decision to Withdraw from Cabinet Seats if the 13th General Elections Results are Worse than the 2008 General Elections

On 28 April 2011, in the hometown of the party’s first President Tun Sir Tan Cheng Lock i.e. Malacca, MCA made a shocking and controversial political decision, that is, if MCA’s performance in the next GE proves worse than the previous one in 2008, MCA will not accept any appointment of posts from the federal government to the local government. MCA will also withdraw all our members from the Cabinet. Through this decision, a total of 11,000 leaders in MCA will be affected as MCA will decline all executive administration. MCA’s decision proved that the party has the upmost respect for democracy and the Chinese’s wishes as voters. By entirely thrusting our fate to the voters, MCA adheres to their principle of democracy and people’s power which forms the backbone of our nation. It is safe to say that never in Malaysian history, a party once made such a bold decision with tremendous impacts on themselves.

Collaboration with Universities in Taiwan to set up Vocational Courses for Malaysians

On 3 August 2011, MCA announced that Malaysians can now undergo vocational training at six Taiwanese universities thanks to MCA’s initiative via the Malaysia-Taiwan Skills Programme. Through this effort of MCA, students can now undergo vocational training courses in Taiwan and will graduate with certification from the Taiwan universities. The courses coordinated by the MCA Vocational Education Development Committee are free of charge as tuition fees are born by the Taiwanese government. The programme is estimated to save up to RM20,000 in a bid to lighten students’ burdens. Enrolment for the first batch of students dispatched was open to 300 seats. Only citizens aged below 40 years and who have completed 5 years of secondary education are eligible to apply.

‘1MCA Education Loan Scheme’ – RM 30 million interest-free study loans

In September 2011, MCA launched an RM30 million ‘1MCA Education Loan Scheme’, which is open to the public regardless of their race in aid of students with financial difficulties. The first five years for the loan is interest free and the programme is designed to provide loans to 250 students each year for higher education purposes. Although MCA already has the Koperasi Serbaguna Malaysia Berhad study loan scheme, the scheme is only open to its members. However this new loan scheme is entirely open to all students in Malaysia, which enables poorer students in Malaysia to apply for loans without interest for the first 5 years.

A Firm Stance against the PAS’ Hudud law

In September 2011, PAS stirred up controversy with its re-introduction of Hudud law. MCA stated that our party’s objection remains firm on this matter. This led to protests from PAS. On the other hand, after PAS insisted on the implementation of the Hudud law, DAP verbally voiced out its disapprovals but did not take any real, practical action. DAP did not dare oppose PAS by threatening to leave Pakatan Rakyat and failed to stop PAS from implementing these theocratic laws in Kedah and Kelantan.

Six Consensus on SMJKs

In November 2011, MCA and the government achieved six consensus on (SMJKs), including: setting up of an additional special fund; building more schools; conducting at least 5 Chinese language lessons per week; automatic promotion of principals to DG52; follow up on teacher shortage problems; follow-up on Chinese language as a compulsory subject for SPM. Also among them, the Seremban branch of SMJK Chan Wa and Penang’s SMJK Jit Sin 2 school were allowed to operate as national type secondary schools or SMJKs with their own board, school principal and administration, thereby increasing the number of SMJKs from 78 to 80 since our nation’s Independence.

1Malaysia Cultural Award

This year, MCA also held the 1Malaysia Cultural Award from 4 January 2011 to 28 February 2011. The award is open to all Malaysians or organisations which will be divided into Chinese and non-Chinese categories, with prizes up to RM50,000 to be awarded. The aim of the award is to commend workers in the cultural sector and to promote the 1Malaysia concept. Any contribution in the cultural sector, including articles, music, movies and other works in line with the 1Malaysia concept and spirit which promotes unity and racial harmony, is open for nomination.

The first 1Malaysia Cultural Award ceremony was successfully held on 19 November 2011. The awards were won by famous composer, Shen Ping Kwang and established movie director, the late Yasmin Ahmad for the Chinese and non-Chinese categories respectively. Shen Ping Kwan beat his opponents via the film “Proudly We Sing Our Songs, We Love Malaysia” while Yasmin won with his film “Muallaf”. Each took home RM50,000 together with trophies.

2012

1MCA Micro Credit Loan Scheme for Youth

In January 2012, MCA announced the establishment of the 1MCA Micro Credit Loan Scheme for Youth. The scheme is applicable for all Malaysians of between 21-40 years of age regardless of their race. The maximum amount of the loan applicable from the scheme is RM 20, 000 and the annual interest rate is only 7.0%. The tenure of the micro credit is from 3 to maximum 5 years. The scheme is set up to encourage the younger generation to venture into entrepreneurship, business start-ups and for them to expand their business dealings.

The 1MCA Micro Credit Loan Scheme for Youth charges 7.0% flat interest per annum with fixed monthly repayment while other loan interests on the market amount to 11% or 12%. Through this scheme, MCA not only wishes to provide micro-credit loans but also to supply successful applicants with training courses teaching entrepreneurship concepts, must-know information on bank loans, tax planning and certain legal knowledge. Successful applicants will form a network of friends where they can share information and to increase the productivity of their business. The 1MCA Micro Credit Loan Scheme for Youths is a joint effort by Koperasi Jayadiri Malaysia Berhad (KOJADI) and Koperasi Serbaguna Malaysia (KSM), both of which are co-operatives under MCA, whereby KOJADI will be handling the micro-credit scheme

1MCA Member Group Insurance Scheme

MCA Central Committee had at its meeting held on 26 April 2012 resolved to purchase a Group Accidental Insurance policy for all our party members so as to provide them with the Insurance protection on the terms and conditions as follows:-

1. The family of any party member whose death is caused by an accident be paid a total sum assured of Ten Thousand Ringgit (RM10,000.00) only together with a bereavement benefit of Four Thousand Ringgit (RM4,000.00) per insured.
2. Any member whose death is not caused by an accident shall only be paid a bereavement benefit of RM4,000.00 only.
3. A claim payment of RM5,000.00 shall be paid to any member who suffers partial disability.

The premiums of the said insurance shall be borne by the MCA Headquarters and the party members shall enjoy the coverage free of charge.

MCA has been to understand that we are the first political party in Malaysia to offer members with the said group insurance scheme covering accidental and natural death as well as permanent disability. MCA has a long tradition of looking after our members. This is one of MCA’s ways to thank party members for their services and contributions.

In June 2012, through MCA’s effort, the Ministry of Higher Education upgraded the status of a Chinese-medium college i.e. Southern College located in Johor to university college status.

On 27 June 2012, Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak announced at Tunku Abdul Rahman College (TARC) main campus that with immediate effect, the Public Service Department will give retrospective recognition to 74 diploma and advanced diploma courses offered by the college since 1998. This means that some 100,000 TARC graduates can now use their qualifications to work in the public sector and are eligible to apply for further studies at public universities.

2013

13th General Election: MCA Fell

On 3rd April 2013, Prime Minister YAB Dato’ Sri Najib Tun Abdul Razak announced the dissolution of Parliament to make way for the 13th General Election. The Election Commission fixed the nomination day on 20th April 2013, while the polling day was set on 5th May 2013. 37 MCA leaders contested for Parliamentary seats and 90 for State seats.  In spite of our great efforts, the Party was defeated by the Opposition which had incited the rakyat’s hatred by raising all sorts of issues and even making sweet but empty promises. Consequently, the voters, especially the Chinese voters, had one-sidedly voted for the Pakatan Rakyat candidates. MCA won only 7 Parliamentary seats and 11 State seats.

MCA and BN had put forward our election political programme. The first aspect which MCA emphasised on was that BN under the leadership of Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak had begun initiating political transformation programmes, namely the Economic Transformation Programme and the Government Transformation Programme. This series of transformations had clear objectives and directions underway and had made remarkable achievements: At the political level, a number of outdated federal legislations which were considered inconsistent with the spirit of democracy were repealed; At the economic level, the Prime Minister successfully led the country to maintain steady and strong growth momentum for successive years. 

The second aspect was that MCA revealed our transformation reforms and directions as opposed to Pakatan’s ie the consequences that would arise if they seized power, their Prime Minister candidate remained unknown, even before the election was announced, the contents of their manifesto was populist-laced, full implementation of Pakatan’s manifesto would lead to national bankruptcy. In addition, PAS stressed that they would never give up their goal to establish a theocratic state and implement hudud law which includes limb amputation once the Opposition wrests office. They would amend the Federal Constitution, change the entire system in the states and Malaysia would be on the path to theocracy with the point of no return. 

Even before election was announced or campaigning began, Pakatan made full use of the online media to expand their campaign, especially via social media to continue spreading rumours, doing anything possible to discredit and slander BN, including deploying a variety of fabrication, falsification and distortion of information, images, photographs, videos, text messages and other media to disparage our electoral system. This caused voters to really think that Malaysia’s election is not clean, is unfair and undemocratic. These rumours were later exposed to fraud. In addition, the tripartitie Pakatan Rakyat, especially DAP during their “Ini Kalilah” call for a "regime change" misled voters in particular, the Chinese voters to assume that the federal  government would fall. DAP’s election gimmick and Chinese media caused voters, primarily Chinese voters to assume that their votes could really change the federal  government. DAP's campaign strategy combined the Chinese community’s long-term accumulation of discontent. DAP succeeded in setting the Chinese community off on an anti-BN tsunami, which overwhelmed MCA and other BN parties.

MCA suffered a historic setback at this election again, securing only seven parliamentary seats and 11 state seats, even fewer than the number of seats won in the last election. BN again could not recoup its 2/3 parliamentary majority but recovered Kedah. Unfortunately, Selangor, Penang and Kelantan remains under Pakatan rule. Chinese voters in this election, with the anti-BN sentiments, balloted overwhelmingly (almost 90%) for the Opposition. Hence, this election became known as the "Chinese tsunami." While MCA and other BN parties suffered poor performance on the Peninsular, BN parties in East Malaysia under UMNO and other Bumiputera-based parties there won a majority of seats, and hence BN still continues to retain power, leading to the formation of a two-race political system of "Bumiputeras in government, Chinese in the Opposition."

Implementing the Resolution of Not Taking Up Cabinet Positions Governmental Appointments

Even though MCA had faced its most serious defeat since its inception, on 11th May 2013, the Presidential Council had resolved that the resolution “to decline all government posts, if the party performs worse in the next General Elections” shall be implemented. Nonetheless, the Party shall stay with Barisan Nasional and continue its unaccomplished political mission.

During its first meeting after the General Election, the Presidential Council set up formed a committee Special Task Force led by the Deputy President Dato’ Sri Liow Tiong Lai, which is responsible for conducting a comprehensive study and proposing recommendations regarding the future of the Party.

Extraordinary General Meeting

A total of 14 Central Committee members comprising Dato’ Sri Liow Tiong Lai, Datuk Dr. Wee Ka Siong and Dato’ Yu Chok Tow had jointly submitted a signed letter to the Secretary-General Dato’ Seri Kong Cho Ha on 9thSeptember 2013, to request that an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) be held for the Central Delegates to discuss the reversal of the decision to suspend the membership of former National Organising Secretary Datuk Tee Siew Kiong, which had contravened the Party’s resolution in 2011 to decline all government posts.

In the Presidential Council meeting held on 10th September, 2013, the request was put aside temporarily due to  certain issues pertaining to the Party Constitution as well as technical problems, which required further clarification from lawyers.

On 30th September, 2013, another 20 MCA Central Committee members, including Datuk Edward Khoo Keok Hai, Dato’ Ei Kim Hock and Datuk Tan Chin Meng, jointly signed and submitted a petition to MCA Secretary-General Dato’ Seri Kong Cho Ha requesting the latter to call for an EGM under Article Clause 31 of the Party Constitution to allow the Central delegates to vote on four resolutions, namely:

1) That the Deputy President Dato’ Sri Liow Tiong Lai be censured on the following grounds:

i) Refusal to accept and respect the collective decision of the Presidential Council and Central Committee in which he participated, example in disciplinary cases, etc;

ii) For failing in his duty as Chairman of the General Election Preparation Committee to carry out all necessary preparations, implementing an effective strategy and good media relations hence causing and contributing to the massive losses faced by MCA in the May 5 General Election. The actions of Liow resulted in the image of the party being tarnished and provoked infighting in the party after the general election.

2) To revoke the party resolution passed at the AGM’s of 2011 and 2012, in order to enable MCA members to accept ministerial, deputy ministerial or any other Cabinet positions.

3) That party members shall accept appointments as Senators or any other positions in the government, for example as Hospital Visitors Board members, and in government-linked companies.

4) That party members shall accept appointments at the state level: state excos, councilors, community heads, Hospital Visitors Board members, or other state government positions as deemed essential for the party.

The Central Committee Meeting held on 3rd October had decided that the Extraordinary General Meeting be held at 10am on 20th October 2013 at San Choon Hall for the Central Delegates to vote.

The attendance rate at the Extraordinary General Meeting was 92.2%, with 2,199 Central Delegates present. Upon completion of the vote counting process, Speaker Datuk Yik Phooi Hoong announced the following results:

1st Resolution: Agree: 965 votes; Disagree: 1,190 votes; Spoilt votes: 34    

2nd Resolution: Agree: 1,080 votes; Disagree: 1,090 votes; Spoilt votes: 18   

3rd Resolution: Agree: 1,666 votes; Disagree: 513 votes; Spoilt votes: 10   

4th Resolution: Agree: 1,709 votes; Disagree: 472 votes; Spoilt votes: 7

Dato’ Sri Liow Tiong Lai was elected the 10th President of MCA ushering a new era to the party. In the 2013 party elections, a total of 72 candidates contested to be members of the MCA Central Committee. Party elections were held during the AGM on 21 December 2016. Five hours after voting and vote tabulation ended, the official results were released in the evening at 6:45p.m.

Liow was elected President, Datuk DR Wee Ka Siong elected as Deputy President. Candidates who were voted in to hold post of Vice Presidents were  Dato’ Lee Chee Leong, Dato’ Dr  Hou Kok Chung, Datuk Chua Tee Yong and Datin Paduka Chew  Mei Fun. As the national chairman of MCA Youth and Wanita MCA wield the rank of Vice President, Chong Sin Woon was elected to be the new MCA Youth chairman and Datuk Heng Seai Kie as the new Chairman for Wanita MCA.

The complete list of victors in the 2013 party elections are as follows:

2014

Transformation Plan

In the 5 May 2013 General Election, MCA suffered the worst record for the party. As a result, the Presidential Council (PC) had convened an emergency meeting on 11 May 2014 and had decided to appoint Dato’ Sri Liow Tiong Lai to head a Special Task Force to evaluate and make recommendations for MCA’s direction and improvement.

The Task Force (later renamed as the Party Transformation Committee) had promptly formulated a working plan and timetable to complete “MCA’s transformation” within 3 months. Measures undertaken to complete the task, among others, collected written reports from all State Liaison Committees, Divisions and candidates, road shows in all the States to establish links with local leaders, on-line opinion polls, dialogues with professionals, researchers, organizations and paid visits to the Communist Party of China, the Kuomintang and the Democratic Progressive Party of Taiwan, as well as invited party representatives and academicians from China, Taiwan and Singapore to attend forums and seminars for leaders of all levels. A Brainstorming session for CC members was also conducted.

The preliminary report was tabled to the CC on 5 September 2013 for it to be tabled and passed in the AGM held in December 2013.

After being elected as party President in mid December 2013, Liow immediately drew up a comprehensive Transformation Plan. From 16 to 18 January 2014, the new leadership conducted a 3-day brainstorming session at Genting Highlands wherein the participating leaders from MCA, MCA Youth and Wanita MCA held a comprehensive discussion and in-depth soul-searching on the Party’s Transformation Plan. Many recommendations and suggestions were tabled and debated.

The recommendations sourced from the brainstorming camp was presented to the PC on 21 January 2014 for further discussion, which subsequently outlined the terms of reference, schedule, and the respective Key Performance Index (KPI) for leaders responsible to implement the transformation.

The President hopes that members who are responsible may complete the respective assignments allocated, to help complete the transformation of our party within 3 years, reorganise the party organizational problems, and build unity in order to form a strong and efficient general election team to face the next general election.

To enable grassroots leaders to understand the overall actions taken to ensure smoothness of the Transformation Plan, MCA Headquarters published the ‘MCA Transformation Action Guidelines’.

The Guidelines outline 11 directions of the Transformation work, and lists all the work and actions to be taken, in order to help party members understand the implementation of the transformation. In addition, the Guidelines also outline the scope of duties and the party responsible, by providing KPIs for all quarters to be able to complete the work within the stipulated time.

The 11 directions for the party’s transformation are:

1. Cleansing the membership list, Party election reform

2. General Election: Candidate Selection Mechanism

3. Setting up a permanent GE War Room

4. Reorganisation and study of Party History

5. Cadre Training Reform

6. GE Mechanism Training

7. Opinion polls

8. Youth outreach

9. Party volunteer

10.  Publicity Reform including Cyber-War

11.  MCA’s Role in the Government and BN Reform

The Guidelines outline 11 directions of the Transformation work, and lists all the work and actions to be taken, in order to help party members understand the implementation of the transformation. In addition, the Guidelines also outline the scope of duties and the party responsible, by providing KPIs for all quarters to be able to complete the work within the stipulated time.

This transformation mission needs to be adapted according to the environment and time, and the party’s CC must make the appropriate adjustments according to demand from time to time. Accordingly, the content of the Guideline will be updated without affecting the transformation framework.

The CC had organised briefings in the whole country from April to May to obtain feedback from party members and leaders of local Chinese guilds and associations.

Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) (23 February 2014)

On 12 February 2014, the MCA Secretary General received a requisition signed by 1,936 (81.3%) central delegates led by 3 requisitionists ie Dato’ Dr. Mah Hang Soon, Sdr. Chia Song Cheng and Sdr. Ng Chok Sin to call for an EGM to debate and pass a resolution for “to accept ALL government posts at ALL levels.”

The CC meeting on 13 February 2014 resolved to hold the EGM concurrently with the Party Anniversary celebration on 23 February 2014. Invoking Article 31 of the Party Constitution, the President directed the Secretary-General to issue a notice for an EGM where it fulfilled the requirement of a short notice of not less than 7 days.

The EGM was held on 23 February 2014 at Dewan San Choon, attended by 1,982 central delegates or 83.28% of the entire 2,380 central delegates.

The General Assembly had voted via a show of hands, the said resolution was passed with an over-whelming majority, where only 5 opposed and 4 abstained.

Kajang State By-Election

PKR’s Kajang assemblyman Lee Chin Cheh resigned on 28 January 2014 to pave way for PKR’s de facto leader Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim to be the Selangor Menteri Besar (MB). Despite recommendations from certain quarters that an UMNO candidate be fielded, MCA stood our ground firmly that we should contest. On 16 February 2014, our Kajang by-election machinery was officially launched by President Dato’ Sri Liow Tiong Lai.

On 21 February 2014, the party conducted a survey to obtain public opinion to determine the right candidate. This is a big step for the party in its transformation process, and the results revealed Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun as having the highest support. With this, she was announced as the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate by Deputy Prime Minister cum BN Deputy Chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

MCA organised a 2-day-1-night ‘Kajang By Election Brainstorming Session’ on 24 and 25 February 2014 at Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan, and on 9 March 2014, our Hulu Langat Division also hosted their 65th anniversary reception which was attended by many members and local leaders. All who attended vowed to give full support to our candidate to win the by-election, and also to implement transformation programmes in the future.

On nomination day on 11 March 2014, Anwar was unable to contest due to a court case and was replaced by his wife Datin Seri Dr. Wan Azizah as Pakatan’s candidate.

Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun was subjected to all sorts of slander, humiliation and other unethical campaign tactics throughout the by-election. DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang also threatened to cause the BN candidate to lose her deposit. Eventually, even though we lost by 5,379 votes, PKR’s vote majority decreased compared to the majority it obtained in GE13. Chinese votes had also increased from 18% to 25%. Showing true sportsmanship, Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun congratulated Datin Seri Dr. Wan Azizah and thanked the electorate who supported BN after the results were announced.

Bukit Gelugor Parliamentary  By-Election

The Bukit Gelugor Parliamentary seat fell vacant following the death of its Member of Parliament cum DAP Chairman Karpal Singh in a road accident on 17 April 2014. Nomination date was set on 12 May 2014 and polling date was fixed for 25 May 2014.

Our Presidential Council had on 10 May 2014 called for an emergency meeting in Ipoh. After taking into consideration the grassroots’ and rakyat’s view, the then socio-political scenario and the constitutional crisis triggered by PAS, MCA had discussed with BN, and announced its decision to not contest. This decision was made as MCA opined that it is more important for us to uphold the supremacy of the Federal Constitution which wants to implement Hudud law in Kelantan state.

Secretary General Dato’ Seri Ong Ka Chuan immediately departed for Penang after the said meeting to convey the Presidential Council’s decision to the Penang State Liaison Committee. After listening to the explanation from the Secretary General, MCA Penang resolved to fully support the PC’s decision.

The Penang State Liaison Committee opined that, the insistence of PAS to implement Hudud law is the biggest challenge since the formation of Malaysia and has created worries among the public. PAS’ action contravenes the Federal Constitution and threatens the nation’s secular system, besides creating the problem of two sets of criminal legislations which will jeopardise future generations. Therefore MCA, as one of the founders of our Federal Constitution, must be at the forefront to ensure national stability and harmony be maintained.

Teluk Intan Parliamentary By-Election

On 1 May 2014, DAP’s Teluk Intan Member of Parliament Seah Leong Peng passed away due to cancer. The Election Commission announced nomination was set on 19 May 2014 while the polling date was fixed for 31 May 2014. BN’s candidate was Gerakan President Dato’ Mah Siew Kiong while DAP’s candidate was Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud.

MCA gave full support to the BN candidate in the spirit of BN teamwork where CC and state members went all out to campaign for the BN candidate in all aspects. MCA Deputy President Datuk Dr. Wee Ka Siong had strategized to win back the support of the 5,000-odd MCA members at all polling districts.

In the end, BN successfully recaptured Teluk Intan with Dato’ Mah Siew Kiong obtaining 20,157 votes to defeat DAP candidate Dyana Sofya’s 19,919 votes, by a majority of 238 votes.

The 3 Chinese areas under our party’s care all showed marked improvement for BN, with Pasir Bedamar recording 35% as compared to 20% previously, Batu 12 Utara receiving 52% against 29% previously and Jalan Anson increased by as much as 44%. This proves that BN had used the correct strategy as Teluk Intan residents require a local resident to solve their problems. BN’s victory shows the collaborative effort between BN parties successfully won the confidence of the voters

MH370 Tragedy 

On 8 March 2014, MAS flight MH370 suddenly went missing. When this news was known, Dato’ Yu Chok Tow, Chief of Staff, Presidential Office rushed to KLIA at once to obtain the latest information. The Crisis Relief Squad of MCA (CRSM) also dispatched to KLIA in preparation to render aid. President Dato’ Sri Liow Tiong Lai also accompanied the Prime Minister to KLIA for the first press conference.

1. CRSM set up a Secretariat to provide assistance to the victims’ families besides coordinating matters relating to media, counselling and translation. CRSM also recruited volunteers from the whole country to help out. On 10 March 2014, BN’s candidate for the Kajang by-election, Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun was also present at KLIA to offer support to the volunteers. On 28 March 2014, she was appointed as a Special Envoy to look after family members from China. On 30 March 2014, she assigned 48 CRSM members to assist 29 family members of the victims who arrived from China. From 31 March to 1 April 2014, she also accompanied Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin in leading a delegation to China

   In the midst of the Kajang campaign, MCA on 19 March 2014 organised a Prayer session for MH370 whereby leaders from various religious groups were invited, to pray together. On 6 April 2014, MCA together with the Malaysian Buddhist Association, Fo Guang Shan, Buddha’s Light International Association of Malaysia, Malaysian Youth Buddhist Association, Buddhist Maha Vihara, Vajrayana Buddhist Council, the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism and other Buddhist associations had also organised a mass prayer session at Wisma MCA which was attended by 4,000 people from across the nation.

   MH17 Tragedy

   On 17 July 2014, MAS commercial flight MH17 bound for Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam was suspected to be shot down by a high energy object and crashed at eastern Ukraine near the Russian border, killing all 298 passengers and crew on board. The Malaysian government responded immediately to seek information and confirmation. Dato’ Sri Liow Tiong Lai, who was away on official duties in Beijing, China had rushed back at once in the early hours of 18 July 2014.

   On the following day, Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak contacted United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and made known our 3 unequivocal demands, that is: all quarters involved ensure the safety of the operations members on the mission, the said quarters are not to tamper with the evidences, and for the culprits to be brought to justice if the results of the investigations confirm the plane was shot down.

   Upon arrival at KLIA at 8:00am on 18 July 2014, Dato’ Sri Liow was briefed by the relevant units and immediately started to coordinate search efforts. At noon, he met up with and offered his condolences to family members of the victims, and in the evening, he held an international press conference to deliver subsequent information. At night, he received more briefings from all relevant units. On 19 July 2014, the MCA President followed up with the coordination and accompanied the Prime Minister to meet victims’ families once again. At midnight that day, he departed for Ukraine to coordinate search works. In the evening of 20 July 2014, the MCA President met the Malaysian Ambassador in Ukraine, and at night, he had a meeting with the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister. On 21 July 2014, he chaired the Special Investigation team meeting and successfully secured permission to enable 3 experts from our country to enter the crash site to conduct investigations.

   In the morning of 22 July 2014, Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak announced that the Malaysian government had reached an agreement with the pro-Russian separatist leader Alexander Borodai, whereby all the MH17 victims’ bodies found would be repatriated to the Netherlands, the two MH17 black boxes would be handed over to the custody of the investigation team, and an international investigation team would be granted permission and a safe passage into the crash site. This was a major diplomatic breakthrough for the Malaysian government. In the morning of 23 July 2015, Dato’ Sri Liow Tiong Lai met up with the Dutch Prime Minister to coordinate receiving and arrangements for the victims’ remains.

   On the 24 July 2014, Dato’ Sri Liow represented the Malaysian government, to attend a ceremony to receive the remains at the Eindhoven Air Base, the Netherlands. At the meantime, 39 Malaysian DVI (Disaster Victims Identification) experts were assigned to the Hilversum military medical centre, the Netherlands to assist in identifying the first batch of remains from the MH17 airlines. All the experts from the Malaysian government consist of members of the Royal Malaysian Police, Malaysian Armed Forces, Ministry of Health and the Department of Chemistry. They are forensic experts and leading medical professionals in Malaysia.

   Although the MCA Preisdent completed his mission in Ukraine and the Netherlands on 25 July 2014, he continues all efforts in coordinating follow up works on the MH17 and MH370 tragedies.

   With the smooth transfer of the remains to the Netherlands, now the process is to label, identify and conduct a post mortem on the remains. The Ministry of Transport helmed by the MCA President will continue to function as the government Secretariat for the MH17 tragedy and will be responsible for handling information delivery and follow up works. The Cabinet also formed several committees led by the respective Ministers to carry out preparation for the National Day of Mourning, the reception of the victims’ remains, handling family members’ matters, prayer sessions and others.

   The Cabinet appointed Deputy President Datuk Dr. Wee Ka Siong with the responsibility of handling the remains of non-Muslim victims. With his new appointment, the Deputy President flew to the Netherlands to coordinate the related matters. On 22 August 2014, the first batch of 20 remains safely returned to Malaysia, and the government declared that day as a National Day of Mourning. The entire nation held a moment of silence for the victims while the military conducted the reception ceremony for the victims. On the same day, the MCA Headquarters also held a mourning ceremony which was attended by more than 1,000 party members and the public.

   On 9 September 2014, the investigation team led by the Dutch Safety Board released a preliminary report, confirming the MH17 aircraft suffered structural destruction after being penetrated by high-energy objects from outside the aircraft. The plane was also declared to be in good flying condition. The President on the same day issued a statement urging the international community to identify the culprits to bring them to justice.

   Hudud Law

   PAS created a havoc, especially among the non-Muslims, when it announced in early April that it would table a Private Member’s Bill in June to seek approval for the implementation of Hudud law, in Kelantan. MCA stated our position to object against the implementation of Hudud law. On 17 April 2014, MCA together with 3 other BN component parties, namely Gerakan, SUPP and LDP held a joint press conference, and released a joint statement to voice our position of opposing PAS’ intended move which disregards the background of our nation which consisted of multi-ethnicities, does not heed the Federal Constitution and cannot be accepted.

   On 10 May 2014, Dato’ Sri Liow Tiong Lai also announced the setting up of “Uphold Federal Constitution Committee” headed by Deputy President Datuk Dr. Wee Ka Siong. The Committee sought to mobilise people to object against PAS’ goal  of implementing Hudud law. At the meantime, the MCA Central Committee, the MCA Special Task Forces and related Bureaus, including MCA Youth and Wanita MCA, and all State Liaison Committees had organised various seminars, courses and petitions to voice our objection against the implementation of Hudud law, and raise awareness among the rakyat on the effects of Hudud’s implementation.

2. ‘Stronger Together’ campaign

    In preparation for the launching of the ‘Stronger Together’ campaign, MCA on 17 April 2014 organised a “Stronger Together” workshop where all CC members from MCA, Youth and Wanita wings were divided into 6 groups to deliberate on the Party’s transformation programmes namely in politics, economy, culture, education, youth and women, for the short, medium and long-term.

   The ‘Stronger Together’ campaign was launched on 3 May 2014 at Tunku Abdul Rahman University College hall, attended by 4,000 participants wearing red shirts with the theme ‘Stronger Together’.

   The campaign was launched by the Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib bin Tun Razak. In his speech, he praised the Chinese as being enterprising, innovative and willing to work hard and contribute towards national development to achieve success.

   In his speech, MCA President Dato’ Sri Liow Tiong Lai explained the ‘Stronger Together’ campaign covered 3 dimensions, namely party unity, unity of the Chinese community and unity of the rakyat. A united MCA would be strong and progressive, capable of planning a clear future for the Chinese community. When the Chinese’s aspirations and hopes are accepted and supported by the government, the community would be able to work together with other communities more effectively and contribute towards a united Malaysia.

   Cabinet Reshuffle

   On 25 June 2014, the Prime Minister announced Cabinet reshuffle. Through the MCA President’s effort, our party successfully requested for 2 Ministers’ and 3 Deputy Ministers’ posts. This is an achievement after MCA made the decision to not enter Cabinet after GE13. This is our re-entry into the Cabinet, having resolved to decline all government posts after the GE13. The Prime Minister stressed the importance of MCA’s re-entry into the BN government which shows the continuation of BN’s power sharing practices.

   The MCA President stressed that MCA rejoining the Cabinet is a huge responsibility to the Chinese community. MCA is also aware that the future is filled challenges. We understand the people’s hopes in MCA, and although the number of MCA posts in the Cabinet is different from before, we always believe that we will perform our duties properly.

   The positions held by MCA leaders after the Cabinet reshuffle are as follows:

MCA’s Official Visit to China

MCA President Dato’ Sri Liow Tiong Lai led an MCA delegation for a working visit to China from 17 to 20 July 2014. Unfortunately, the MH17 tragedy in Ukraine struck on the night of their arrival. As Transport Minister, he made the decision to return to Malaysia to manage the said tragedy. Therefore, Secretary-General Dato’ Seri Ong Ka Chuan and Vice-President Dato’ Dr. Hou Kok Chung, took over the helm of the delegation in China.

In the 3-day working visit, the MCA delegates paid a courtesy call on the Minister of International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC), leaders of schools of political studies, activities centre and others.

The main result of the visit was the signing of a Memoranda on Exchange and  Cooperation between by MCA Secretary General Dato' Seri Ong Ka Chuan and the Deputy Minister of the International Department of the CPC, Mr. Chen Fengxiang, and witnessed by MCA Vice President Dato' Dr. Hou Kok Chung and Minister of International Department of the CPC, Mr. Wang Jiarui.

Mr. Wang Jiarui said that since diplomatic relations were established 40 years ago, MCA and the Chinese community in Malaysia have assisted in the rapid development of bilateral ties. He believes that MCA rejoining the Cabinet would enable the party to contribute more towards the Chinese community. He also pointed out that, not many MoUs were signed despite the CPC having ties with more than 600 political parties in more than 160 countries. This proves the friendly relations between CPC and MCA.

Secretary-General Dato’ Seri Ong Ka Chuan said, MCA values our friendship with CPC, and expressed his hopes that, with the signing of the MoU, the two parties would be able to work together more closely in the future. The said MoU is based on the principle of equality and mutual respect.

Both parties had reached four understandings as below:

1. To maintain close, high-level contact, enhance exchanges of experience in running Party and government affai

1. To strengthen personnel exchanges at various levels, and through information sharing, exchange political ideals as well as experience in Party-building and deepen understanding of each other’s Party and country, so as to promote common development

3. To cooperate on the training of party officials to improve the ability and competence of officials of both parties.

4. To encourage think-tanks, media and other organisations from both Parties to carry out friendly exchanges, so as to consolidate the public opinion on the good relations between both countries. 

During the 61st party Annual General Assembly (AGM) on 12 October, Liow launched the MCA policy framework of “1Malaysia Innovation Field” which has since been renamed as “Harnessing Diversity Programme.” 

During the 61st party Annual General Assembly (AGM) on 12 October, Liow launched the MCA policy framework of “1Malaysia Innovation Field” which has since been renamed as “Harnessing Diversity Programme.”

The ‘Harnessing Diversity Programme’ will showcase how the Malaysian Chinese community works with other ethnic groups through its economic advantage and cultures, and further promotes  PM Najib’s 1Malaysia’ concept as the international competitive advantage. The definition of ‘Harnessing Diversity Programme’ in a multicultural Malaysia is to enhance our international competitiveness, to eliminate the possible existence of extremists in the country.

Under the MCA’s policy framework of “Harnessing Diversity Programme, Malaysia will be able to make uses of its diversity advantage, as well as groom citizens with international competitive advantage, as to enter the international market, and gain control of the in current trend of international politics and economy, and realising Malaysia’s aspiration of becoming a high-income nation.

The party thinks that Malaysia is one of the few countries in the world that gathers all four Chinese, Indian, Nusantara and Islamic civilisations. Additionally, we also possess modern Western civilisation as our country has rich colonial history, as well as the relatively rich experiences and high English language level of the people. The purpose of ‘Harnessing Diversity Programme’ is to build Malaysia as a ‘multicultural ground’ like no other, gathering Chinese, Indian, Islamic, Nusantara and Western civilisations. Using 1Malaysia’s concept as the basis, Malaysia will take the diversity and moderate direction to new heights, enabling co-operation among the different ethnic groups.

Under the “Harnessing Diversity Programme,” the country’s economy should focus on encouraging cooperation between SMEs and Government-Linked-Companies (GLCs) in the international arena especially China, India, the Middle East and Indonesia. One strategy of the “Harnessing Diversity Programme”is to help Chinese SMEs to venture abroad. Chinese SMEs must cooperate with Bumiputera enterprises, in particular, with GLCs.

To achieve these objectives, the MCA President’s proposed “Harnessing Diversity Programme” has put forward three specific initiatives:

Plan I: Establishing Koperasi Jayadiri or Kojadi development fund to inject RM200 million of funds with the objectives of extending loan facility to cash-constraint SMEs, as well as launch a SME’s Finance Loan Scheme operated by the Chinese and Malays.

Plan II: Establishing a GLC-linked 1Malaysia-China Corporation, GLC company and SME to enter the China’s markets for the greater benefits of the people.

Plan III: Constructing Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman Hospital for teaching, medical research and development, for traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine while providing medical services.

2015

East Coast Flood Relief

The worst flood in 40 years occurred in December 2014 and affected a vast areas in Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang and displaced tens of thousands of victims. We immediately mobilised our CRSM volunteers for the relief works and also established the ‘East Coast Relief Fund’ on 23 December to collect donations in cash and kind. By 29th, an ‘East Coast Flood Relief Operations Centre’ was set up to monitor and co-ordinate the collection of supplies and donations, logistics, supports and distribution round the clock. During the disaster, the fund had collected over RM5 million comprising almost RM2 million in cash and over RM3 million in kind. Over 1,200 volunteers were helping out. 

Besides, MCA also recruited volunteers through CRSM, MCA youth, Youth wing of Chinese associations and so on to help in the cleaning up and rebuilding works in the aftermath of the disaster, including the activation of ‘Home cleaning’ project involving central and state leaders, CRSM at state and division levels, volunteers as well as party members at the disaster area. Subsequently, we activated the ‘Back to school’ project and collected uniforms, stationaries and other items for students to resume their studies. 

Our CRSM had purchased and distributed over 10,000 uniforms to the affected schools and allocated RM330,000 to 15 SJKCs, 2 SMJKs and the Chung Hwa Independent School in Kelantan for their rebuilding works. CRSM also allocated RM100,000 for 6 Chinese primary schools in Pahang for repair, purchase of new furniture and other necessities.

We also brought the flood issue into the Cabinet for discussion and to find ways to assist the victims and formulate a long-term flood mitigation policy. Later, in the Budget 2015 interim evaluation, the government announced a RM893 million allocation for flood mitigation and a further RM800 million to rebuild basic infrastructures at disaster areas.

Kelantan State Legislative Assembly Unanimously Passes the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Enactment 1993 (Amended 2015)

Hudud issues were again becoming national hot topic when the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Enactment 1993 (Amended 2015) was unanimously passed in the state legislative assembly on 19 March.

As the state assemblymen voted for the amendment also included UMNO representatives, controversy erupted among BN component parties and MCA called in main office bearers of all divisions to headquarters for an emergency briefing on 21 March 2015 on the latest development on hudud and MCA central leadership and ministers’ stand and strategies within BN as well as Cabinet.

MCA subsequently had a meeting with the main Chinese associations on 24 March to deliberate on the hudud issue and to reaffirm our unequivocal stand in opposing hudud and defending the secular and democratic Constitution. A joint declaration was made at the end of the meeting as below:

1. MCA and Chinese associations jointly undertook to strongly defend Malaysia’s secular democratic system and the Federal Constitution, the pillars of our nation’s foundation.

2. MCA and Chinese associations both agreed that the implementation of hudud would eventually erode the diverse social system and result in injustice. 

3. MCA and Chinese associations both agreed that the laws must be fair and protect the rights of all races, in line with the spirit of ‘everybody is equal in front of the law’.

4. MCA and Chinese associations fully support moderate governance by the Prime Minister.

5. Chinese associations fully support MCA’s opposition to hudud, which went against the Constitution.

Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim was convicted of sodomy and given a 5-year jail term on 10 February 2015. His subsequent appeal for clemency was turned down by the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong resulting in his disqualification as an MP hence a by-election had to be held for his Permatang Pauh seat. The Election Commission fixed 25 April as the nomination day and 7 May as the polling day. MCA appointed Vice President and Penang State Liaison Committee Chairman Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun as the co-ordinator for the Permatang Pauh by-election while Deputy President Datuk Wee Ka Siong was named as the chief co-ordinator at central level for both Permatang Pauh and Rompin by-elections.

After intense lobbying, PKR chairman Wan Azizah won the seat with 8841 majority. She obtained 30,316 votes as compared to BN candidate Suhaimi’s 21,475 votes.

The result indicated a slight reflow of the Chinese votes back to BN, especially at the 98.7% Chinese Sungai Lembu polling station where BN recorded an increase of 13.8%. President Dato’ Sri Liow Tiong Lai admitted that the reflow was slow and MCA must work even harder, make an in-depth study and deepen the transformation effort, to effectively unleash our role as a ruling party to gain more Chinese support.

Rompin parliamentary seat

The Rompin, Pahang seat fell vacant when incumbent MP Jamaluddin Jarjis was killed in a helicopter crash in Semenyeh on 4 April 2015. It was the 10th by-elections after GE13. Nomination was on 22 April and polling on 5 May. BN’s candidate was Hassan Ariffin. MCA appointed CC member and Pahang Liaison Committee Chairman Dato’ Ho Khai Mun as the co-ordinator for the by-election.

With MCA and other BN component party’s help, the BN candidate eventually prevailed with 23,796 votes, a majority of 8,895 over PAS candidate’s 14,901 votes. The Chinese majority polling station clearly showed a reflow of the community’s votes back to BN, a strong message that the Chinese community rejected hudud.

MCA CC members’ study trip to China

Under CPC’s invitation, President led Central Committee members paid an official visit to China for 5 days from 8 to 12 May 2015. The visit, themed ‘friendship and cooperation’, aimed to deepen the two parties’ friendship and strengthen government-to-government co-operations, and explore existing and potential business opportunity and co-operations in various fields.

Our delegates met with CPC Central Committee Politburo member and Party Academy (CELAP) President Liu Yunshan, CPPCC Vice Chairman and International Department of CPC (IDCPC) minister Wang Jiarui, IDCPC deputy minister Chen Fengxiang, China Economic Co-operation deputy director Wu Baocai and Shanghai Deputy Mayor Ai Baojun, as well as visited the Shanghai Port, Free Trade Area, Xiaomi Technology and so on.

Apart from visiting the CPC and government departments, the delegates also went on the field to Daxing area’s Pangge town and Lihua village under its jurisdiction to learn how a sleepy hollow could be, with the help from the central and local governments and village folks, turned into a national top village famous for its eco-tourism industry.

To save time, President and Deputy President had separate agenda. Dato’ Sri Liow called China Water Resources and three aviation companies whereas Datuk Wee visited Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, open fishery ports and Seafood Wholesale Market. Besides, the delegates also met with Malaysian students and businessmen in Shanghai.

President and our delegates witnessed the signing of memorandum of co-operations between Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman and China Executive Leadership Academy, Pudong, Shanghai, marked a new chapter in the two institutions’ co-operations.

It was a fruitful trip as much had been gained in party affairs, training, education, economy, culture, academic exchange, women, aviation, ports and so on.

China-Malaysia Business Dialogue on ‘‘One Belt One Road’’ Initiative

Together with the China Economic Co-operation Center (CECC), a unit under the International Department Central Committee of Communist Party of China (IDCPC), MCA has organised an ‘‘OBOR: China-Malaysia Business Dialogue’’ in Beijing to help the Business entrepreneurs to access the China market.

The eight topics discussed were as below:
- One Belt One Road and China-Malaysia Co-operation
- Investment and Trade-Pillars of China-Malaysia economic Co-operation
- Financial Innovation-Driving force for China-Malaysia Co-operation
- SMEs-Active Promoter China-Malaysia Co-operation
- Infrastructure-Priority Areas of ‘One Belt One Road’ Initiative
- China-Malaysia Ports Co-operation
- ‘Internet+’-New Driver for Reform and Development
- Certification and Co-operation Project of Halal Food and Muslim Commodities

The MCA President said, as the rotated chair for ASEAN this year, Malaysia could be the entrance for China to enter ASEAN and help strengthen China-ASEAN co-operation. The Central Committee has also set up an MCA China Affairs Committee headed by Deputy Treasurer-General Dato’ Sri Chuah Poh Khiang, to promote and follow-up on the development of OBOR. MCA also plans to jointly organise with CECC, another round of business dialogue in Kuala Lumpur next year.

Additional Minister and Deputy Minister in Cabinet Reshuffle

In the Cabinet reshuffle announced on 28 July, Prime Minister Najib gave MCA an additional one minister and one deputy minister’s posts, which went to Secretary-General Dato’ Seri Ong Ka Chuan as second International Trade and Industry Minister and Youth Chief Chong Sin Woon as deputy Education Minister. With the reshuffle, MCA was now having 3 ministers and 4 deputy, as compared to 2 ministers and 3 deputy ministers previously.

The President pointed out that, from the scope of duties entrusted, the posts were in line with the aspirations of the Chinese community, as both the MITI and MOE were closely related to the community. He also promised that MCA would carry out its duties diligently, and assist the people from within the government, and push for the national transformation program and development.

The two additional post were allocated mainly because of MCA’s performance for the past year in government, party affairs and services. In addition, party’s solid unity at all levels not only enabled party to grow in stability but recognised by the PM as well.

MCA Central Committee members who have been appointed into the Cabinet are as follows:

MCA central government official after the cabinet reshuffle list as follows:

Ministers
Minister of Transport: Dato’ Sri Liow Tiong Lai

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department: Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong

Ministry of International Trade and Industry II: Dato’ Seri Ong Ka Chuan

Deputy Ministers
Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry: Dato’ Lee Chee Leong

Deputy Minister of Finance: Datuk Chua Tee Yong

Deputy Minister of Women, Family and Community Development: Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun

Deputy Minister of Education: Sdr Chong Sin Woon