Charged up to serve the people
Speech by MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat at the party’s 60th anniversary celebration on March 1, 2009.
Cause for celebration: Ong addressing party members at Wisma MCA in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. WE ARE here at this grand rally to celebrate 60 years of the founding of the Malaysian Chinese Association together with party members and fellow Malaysians from across the country.
There is indeed a cause for celebration for the party has for six decades since its birth witnessed and experienced many challenges. We emerged battle-scarred but triumphant. We remember the struggles of our founding members to resettle and provide hope for half a million Malayan Chinese.
As we celebrate, we must be mindful of the tremendous challenges we face today. We are still grappling with the effects of the political wake-up call from 308 (March 8, 2008).
The full force of the economic tidal wave that has reached our shores has yet to be felt.
The party has reached a crossroads – one that makes or breaks us.
Our people have been yearning for good governance and efficient public delivery. Support for MCA and Barisan Nasional has been eroding simply because we have failed to live up to these escalating expectations.
A clamour for change
These signs strike at the very heart and soul of our will. They chip away at our confidence in the future and threaten to destroy our spirit. It questions the very existence of our party. What do we stand for? Who do we serve? Are we able to deliver? Can we at MCA continue to be relevant? Will there be an MCA in the next 60 years?
These issues must be grasped with full consciousness that they are what they are. The people now want to talk and to be heard. They want their voice to be acted upon. When they talk, we must listen. We hear the voices from people from all walks of life, from the kampungs and from city towers.
The voices echo from mosques, temples and churches, from people with different colours and who speak different languages. The message is the same: they clamour for change.
Party needs to be more proactive in addressing the nation’s economic woes
The word “change” is not just a convenient slogan. We should change because we believe in the contents of the change.
First and foremost, the party needs to be more proactive in engaging and playing our role in addressing the nation’s economic woes. We must do away with piecemeal and short-term solutions. Instead, we should put in the best possible ideas forward so that the people and nation benefit.
We have to ensure economic stimulus packages and aid are channelled to those who most deserve them. Who benefits and how do we ensure that they eventually benefit? Transparency and accountability must be the order of the day and take the place of red tape, delays and leakages that run foul of our genuine effort to effectively reduce income disparity.
To keep our rice bowls, we will promote micro-credit and SME financing for Malaysians based on their innovativeness and zeal to succeed and not by whom they know and who their patron is.
In doing so, we must stay focused and be relevant in national policy-making and public delivery because we are part of the Government. As a major partner in the Barisan coalition, we are able to and should be perceived as playing this crucial role in major decision-making and implementation. We must step out of our comfort zone of utilising resources for apolitical purposes.
To take a leaf from history, the Buy Malaysian Campaign launched in 1998 was an initiative we can be proud of. Aside from being instrumental in protecting many jobs and local businesses during the economic downturn, it represented a clear effort on the part of MCA in spearheading policy-making by the government.
Looking back further, our founding fathers made several right choices for the community. We still feel the impact of those decisions today. Sir Tun Tan Cheng Lock championed the paradigm shift in the psyche of the Chinese from allegiance to China to the allegiance to Malaya. Let this ring out loud clearly today. We Malaysian Chinese are not mere passengers in this country.
We are here to build a nation in our home, Malaysia.
The time has come for Malaysians of all races and religions to understand and respect one another. Let us put an end to the teaching and preaching of hate perpetrated by fanaticism.
Our party founders understood the meaning of living together in a country we call home. We owe obligations to one another, not only legal obligations to obey the law and pay taxes, but wider obligations such as respecting each other’s choices and beliefs. This is the foundation of our democracy and the cornerstone of Malaysia that is civilised and decent.
Inter-racial relations must be unshackled
The party believes that inter-racial relations must be unshackled from the zero-sum mentality where one community gains at the expense of the other. We simply stand for the simple notion that if a person is treated with equal concern and respect as a Malaysian, he shall be accorded the freedom to choose his leaders, earn a living, provide for his family, educate his kids, practise his religion and his merits as a human person.
This was and still is the foundation in which this country is built upon. Our party, MCA, was a proactive partner in the struggle to gain independence. Premised on this spirit, our party needs to participate in mainstream politics. In doing so, we must think out of the box, be courageous and expand our roles. We need to ensure that broader policies are multi-racial and just.
As a major Barisan component party, we must stand up to injustice and engage any other like-minded forces to seek redress on issues of public concern. We have to be bold and we have to be loud if and when we have to.
We need to transform and energise MCA that will be fearless in championing equal opportunities and a level playing field, not only for the Chinese community, but for all Malaysians. Our fire and passion should not be misunderstood to mean disloyalty. It is our fervent belief that there is room within the Barisan fold for pluralism of views.
Leaders must serve with a new spirit of professionalism and pro-activeness
I do not say to you that MCA’s struggle for freedom and equality will be easy. I do not promise a quick panacea for our nation’s problems. What I promise you is that I will lead our battle and I will enforce integrity in our struggle and I will ensure transparency. And above all, I will act.
A single man in the desert may be sovereign but is powerless. We need a strong team. We need to energise and reinvigorate the party. We need to attract the best brains and professionals to help navigate our party.
I mentioned meritocracy in our practices. MCA leaders should lead the charge by setting good examples. Aside from being passionate about serving the people and having the courage to champion their rights, our leaders must serve with a new spirit of professionalism and pro-activeness and more importantly, be guided by values and integrity in his work.
These are not just mere rhetoric. We can start with service standards and reports. We will put in place systems and mechanisms to ensure what was promised is delivered, and weed out deadwood.
Ultimately, leaders are judged by the results they produce. We must always be humble and mindful that power lies with the people. It is the people who ultimately judge who we are and what we should stand for. The people should be empowered not only with the determining voice of change, but also be empowered to actively participate in that process. MCA’s successful effort to channel school funds for development or refurbishment directly to the school board is an example of such empowerment.
Empowering youths
We also need to empower our youths. Our future generation must have a say, given a free hand in decision making and the liberty to make things happen. They will invigorate MCA with new dynamism and serve in the party simply because they believe in the ideals and values of the party, and not claim selfish and greedy political favours. The young represent the future of our party and nation in the digital age and we hope to attract the best and brightest from amongst them into the party.
MCA will venture out and forge alliances to pave the way for a mature and enlightened generation in the future. To do this, we need to open the doors to universities and colleges, pave the way for international collaboration and upgrade the standards of our institutions. Empowerment with knowledge and skills will certainly make our youths more competitive and the party stronger in the long term. The party needs to re-invent itself and become the beacon of hope for them, and our leaders to play role models and mentors.
MCA will reinvigorate and continue
As we look into the next 60 years, we take stock of our past – the vision of those who, in 1949, gave birth to a courageous party which will uphold the trust of the nation. We will reinvigorate ourselves and continue with our struggles against poverty, misery, and ignorance. We will promote integrity and the freedom to do business, open up schools and universities, and the right to live the wholesome life one chooses in this country. We will continue to serve all, not a segment or a group, but for all Malaysians.
光华日报二零零九年七月二十六日 晚上十一时五十四分
