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Malaysia: Shake-up at the
top
By Anil Netto
PENANG,
Malaysia - The leadership shake-up late last week in the
second-largest party in Malaysia's ruling coalition
indicates a changing of the guard in the run-up to Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad's planned retirement this
October.
After 17 years at the helm, Transport
Minister Ling Liong Sik stepped down as president of the
Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), which positions
itself as the political protector of local Chinese
business and educational interests. Ling had been a
loyal ally to Mahathir, premier since 1981, all these
years. Ling's rival and deputy, Lim Ah Lek, also quit as
part of a bid to resolve an acrimonious factional
struggle within the MCA ahead of a general election
speculated to be held early next year.
Last
Friday, the MCA's central committee elected Ling's
protege and MCA vice president Ong Ka Ting as party
president and Lim's ally Chan Kong Choy as the deputy
president.
Mahathir and Ling are among four
long-staying ruling coalition party leaders who have
held the reins since the 1980s. The other two now in the
spotlight are Works Minister S Samy Vellu, president of
the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) since 1979, and
Primary Industries Minister Lim Keng Yaik, who has led
Gerakan, a multi-ethnic Chinese-based party, since 1980
- both of whom are staunch Mahathir loyalists.
On the same day that the MCA central committee
was electing new leaders, Mahathir himself reiterated
that he would definitely retire from all posts in the
government and his United Malays National Organization
(UMNO) in October. It was one of his clearest
declarations about his impending departure and helped
dispel some lingering speculation that he might be
persuaded to stay on. "I've made the statement to
resign. If I renege on my promise, then my leadership
will no longer be credible," he said.
The
premier also expressed full confidence in his deputy and
chosen successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
The
changing of the guard in two of the four main parties in
the 15-party ruling coalition comes at a time of
economic uncertainty ahead of a general election, which
is due by the end of next year.
In the last
general election in 1999, UMNO, faced with an erosion in
ethnic Malay support, relied heavily on support from the
MCA to retain its commanding two-thirds majority in
parliament. The UMNO-MCA-MIC alliance dates back to the
years before independence in 1957. The alliance between
UMNO and MCA was first forged in 1953. A year later, the
MIC joined in. In 1974, The Alliance was expanded into
an enlarged ruling coalition known as the Barisan
Nasional (National Front).
The MCA itself has
had a history of factional disputes since its formation.
The latest split stems from the appointment of cabinet
ministers from the ranks of the MCA top leadership.
When Lim Ah Lek declined to contest the 1999
general election, it appeared that he and Ling had
reached a "gentlemen's agreement" that was supposed to
include Lim's protege Chan Kong Choy's replacing Lim as
a federal minister. But that did not materialize: Ling's
allies, including Ong, assumed the vacant cabinet posts,
while Chan was not appointed. It was in essence a
dispute over political positions rather than policy
differences.
The factional dispute flared
further in 2001 with the MCA's takeover of two
relatively independent Chinese newspapers. The takeover
followed an erosion in Chinese support for the ruling
coalition that was blamed for a by-election loss of a
safe ruling-coalition seat in Lunas in Mahathir's
northern home state of Kedah. The MCA's sidelined
faction, dubbed Team B, galvanized opposition to the
takeover, which nonetheless was steamrolled through.
With the Malay ground still divided, it was
obvious that the ruling coalition could ill afford going
into the next general election with its key ally still
facing a factional struggle; hence the attempts to patch
up the split and resolve the leadership crisis.
Politically, the MCA has provided a stabilizing
influence for the ruling coalition, especially during
times when UMNO has been mired in crisis. But the ride
has sometimes been bumpy, as the MCA has had to contend
with grievances from within the Chinese-Malaysian
community regarding educational opportunities, use of
mother tongue in schools, and culture.
Over the
years, the MCA's influence in the ruling coalition has
been receding from one of a partnership among equals
during the independence era to a point where it now
accepts UMNO's dominance in the ruling coalition as a
given.
Ling's departure from the MCA leadership
also neatly sidesteps a potential crisis over his
alleged links with businessman Soh Chee Wen, now in the
dock on commercial-crimes charges. Soh has lashed out at
his former mentor, Ling, for repeatedly denying previous
business links between the two and accused Ling of
having abused his position to conduct business deals
between 1996 and 1997. He claimed that he had been given
top party posts in MCA then because he had helped to
develop Ling's business and promote Hee Leong in the
corporate world.
Soh lodged a police report this
March 28 alleged that Ling and his son Hee Leong had met
an Austrian investor for personal business negotiations
in Ling's office at the transport ministry. In January,
the investor had himself lodged a police report against
all three of them claiming that they owed him RM100
million (about US$26 million) after he sold a
controlling stake in a listed company at below market
value to Ling and his son with Soh as the middle man.
Increasingly, it appeared that Ling was turning
into a political liability and the factional dispute
needed drastic surgery - the sort that Mahathir usually
dispenses when the situation demands. But given the
MCA's history of factional disputes, the leadership
change appears akin to sticking a Band-Aid on a
festering sore, which could well erupt later in a
different form. Whether it will heal the deep factional
wounds within the MCA - and ultimately mobilize
ethnic-Chinese support for the ruling coalition - in the
run-up to the general election remains to be seen.
(Copyright 2003 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All
rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com for
information on our sales and syndication policies.)
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