Straits Times of Singapore 28th June 2001

By Joceline Tan IN KUALA LUMPUR

IT WAS one of those watershed occasions in political history.And the occasion was particularly crucial for Malaysian Chinese Association president Ling Liong Sik because of its implications for his political survival.

Yet, the Singapore-trained medical doctor-turned-politician did not once lose his composure throughout the party's often-raucous extraordinary general meeting (EGM) last weekend, stoically facing jeers and taunts from the floor and accusations and insults from the speakers.

It was one of his best, yet, worst moments. He carried himself well in the face of adversity.

That afternoon, Datuk Seri Dr Ling got his way over the controversial Nanyang Press purchase. The floor voted 53.2 per cent for the deal but it was a hollow victory.

The president and his men won the day but, deep in their hearts, they knew they had lost the support of half the party and, more serious, that of the bulk of the Chinese community.

The meeting had been convened to decide whether the MCA should acquire Nanyang Press Holdings, which publishes two Chinese newspapers, Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press.

The RM230 million (S$110 million) transaction had run into stiff opposition from the Chinese community and associations shortly after Dr Ling announced that the party's top decision-making committee had approved the deal.

But the party approval was not unanimous. Eight of the committee members opposed the deal on the grounds that it went against the wishes of the Chinese community.

They were deputy president Lim Ah Lek and two vice-presidents, Datuk Chua Jui Meng and Datuk Chan Kong Choy, and MCA Youth leader Ong Tee Keat.

The meeting sided with Dr Ling. So how is that the winners were not rejoicing whereas the losers seemed almost jubilant?

The EGM was, apparently, more than just a divided-party stand on the newspaper deal.

First, it underscored the tattered relationship between Dr Ling and Datuk Lim.

It could even be regarded as a warm-up to what everyone expects to be an all-out contest for the top party posts next year.

A lawyer aligned to the Lim camp said: 'The battle has begun.'Second, it provided an important assessment of the strengths of both sides and it is evident that they are quite evenly matched.

Dr Ling's camp had expected 65 per cent support from the EGM. The narrow margin was a blow to the president's confidence and suggests that party sentiment for him has eroded even further since his attempted resignation from his minister post last year.

His opponents targeted him in their countrywide roadshow and tried to pin the deal squarely on his shoulders.

'I think they succeeded in damaging the president,' said one of Dr Ling's supporters.

Third, the dispute leading up to the EGM has opened the door to a formidable challenger to Dr Ling, and he is none other than Health Minister Datuk Chua.

A journalist from a Chinese newspaper said: 'He is presidential material.'

The English-educated Datuk Chua has emerged from this episode with an enhanced stature and those from the Chinese media have begun to refer to him as the next president of the MCA.

During a press conference several nights before the EGM, he had just finished answering question in English when a Chinese TV news station asked him to repeat his answer in Mandarin.

The TV journalist then said loud enough for everyone to hear: 'We must test your Chinese if you want to become the next MCA president.'

But perhaps the most worrying aspect of the outcome of the EGM is that the party consciously went against the sentiment of the community. As Datuk Chua put it, the MCA is like the fish and the community the water. The fish, he had warned, cannot survive without the water.The fish has not been this far out of the water since the 1980s when the Chinese deserted the MCA in droves over the issue of Chinese education.

A question frequently asked since the Nanyang Press issue erupted was how a seasoned politician like Dr Ling, who had survived 15 years at the helm of the MCA, could have so misjudged the Chinese ground.

They ask how he could have imagined being able to wrap not one but two newspapers under his wing without outcry from the community.He might have pulled it off at the height of his popularity six or seven years ago, but his standing has been on the wane the past few years.

Party people suggest some urgent and private logic as the main impetus behind the deal.

Even if the deal might have been a 'golden business opportunity', it is now sullied by the negative public reaction.

Dr Ling's camp is anxious to see a speedy divestment of the MCA burden of the RM230-million deal to what it calls 'strategic buyers', that is, businessmen sympathetic to the party.

Then only, they say, can the party begin to focus on reconsolidation.And contrary to opinion, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's remarks on the issue have not helped Dr Ling.

The Prime Minister has enjoyed limited empathy from the Chinese since the Suqiu controversy.

Still, Dr Mahathir, as leader of the ruling Barisan Nasional, cannot help but want to see a cohesive MCA. Umno has yet to regain the Malay ground and it will continue to depend heavily on Chinese support in the next General Election.

The Chinese are not unaware of their kingmaker role. The opposition parties, especially the Islamic Party, are also courting their support actively.

The short-term prospect for Dr Ling seems as challenging as that in the long term.

The party's state conventions will be taking place throughout next month and they will not be easy occasions for the president and his men.

It is difficult to maintain one's dignity and decorum if one is greeted with shouts of 'rotten fish head' and 'black sheep of the Chinese family' at functions.

Even those standing firmly behind the president admit privately that the deal has been bad for the party and they are wondering how to face their grassroots.

Then there is the longer-term and even more daunting perspective - the General Election in 2004. But Dr Ling will first have to survive his own party election due in August next year.

He won the battle. Can he win the war?