In an exclusive interview with MCA President YB Dato’ Sri Ong Tee Keat at Wisma MCA on 25 February 2009 in conjunction with the coming Party 60^th Anniversary on 1 March 2009, he shared with the media his immediate plans to reform the party. He elaborated that “for the past 60 years in MCA history, the party has to analyze and re-look into their past experiences and what it has achieved and lost during the period.”

After March 8, 2008 General Elections

“After MCA suffered its worst setback in the 2008 General Elections, the party has reflected on its past weaknesses and learnt invaluable lessons from it. We have to go back to the grassroots, the people who form the backbone of the party and who are assets to the party,” Tee Keat expressed.

“After I was elected as the Party President on 18 October 2008, we have been going around the country to know what the views and concerns of our party members are. We have also gathered their wish-list for the party and whatever changes they want to see in the party. Even though we received some strong criticisms from our own members and also from the public, we take it with an open heart as we do know that their real concern is the survival and relevance of the party in view of the current political landscape in the country. Appreciating the constructive ideas and suggestions from the Chinese community and also from other races, we promise we will immediately look into it. This is part of our reform plans for the party,” emphasized the MCA President.

Tee Keat conveyed that “we have to identify any impending issues or problems affecting the Chinese community now and look seriously into how to resolve it. If we fail to resolve the issues now, we cannot move ahead in fighting for the interests of the people.”

“We should have high demands of ourselves when serving the people. For example, only through studying and evaluating the effectiveness of any government policy can we identify any weaknesses in them which do not benefit the people and should be amended,” he stressed.

In facing economic slowdown

Tee Keat added that MCA being part of the BN government never fails to raise up issues or problems affecting the Chinese community in the Cabinet. With the country facing strong economic challenges, he expressed that the party has heavy responsibilities to reassure all Malaysians regardless of race that we will work very hard with the government and other related business chambers in identifying good measures to revive the economy.

“We cannot afford to sit idle and ignore the serious repercussions from a slowing economy as it will affect the livelihoods of all Malaysians. We have heavy responsibilities in looking after the interest and welfare of those affected by the economic slowdown and at the same time, we have to identify new business opportunities which will create more jobs opportunity to all Malaysians,” reiterated Tee Keat.

Racial issues

He explained that the party will focus on healthy racial relationships between various races in the country. “Healthy racial relationships among the races should be based on values such as fairness, harmony, trust and respect each community has towards one other,” he said.

He also urged that all Malaysians should change their mindset and look at issues in a different perspective rather than categorizing all issues into racial issues.

“We should be multi-racial in handling any issue affecting Malaysians in general. Our approach in fighting for the rights of the people or serving any community should not be translated as harping on racial issues but one that transcends the racial barrier. We should come out from narrow racial divide and try to bridge any misconceptions and misunderstandings any party has over the others,” added Tee Keat.

“The country’s resources should be fairly distributed among all the races. All Malaysians from different groups of life are important assets to the country. We must know how to fully utilize their expertise, knowledge and potentials while giving them more opportunities to serve and contribute to the country’s economy and also in terms of nation building. If given enough opportunities, trainings and suitable platforms, I believe many youths out there will have many constructive ideas and suggestions on how we can further develop and improve on the country’s competitiveness,” broached the Party President who is also the Transport Minister.

Empowerment

Tee Keat also explained that part of his transformation plans included introducing empowerment to the party. He urged party members to embrace empowerment as part of their struggle to achieve a civil society. For example, the announcement made by Deputy Prime Minister on January this year to give a total of RM500 million allocation to Chinese schools in the country for repair works has allowed the school’s board of directors to independently manage their own allocations while looking for their own contractors.

Secondly, he recollected that when he was the MCA Youth National Chairman back then, he had always emphasized on youth empowerment. For example, various youth bodies and organizations are now allowed to conduct their own activities while managing their own funds independently

Party Unity

On another matter, Tee Keat underlined that party unity is very crucial in determining whether the party can ride out from the storm it is facing now. “If all the members are united and cooperate with me in transforming the party, together we can achieve many things. But if we do not stand united, the faster the party will fall while failing to restore the people’s confidence in it. We are introducing party reforms now and acting on it fast to ensure that we will not lose the support from our own community,” he reiterated.

- MCA Online -