Look at the larger picture !

A few days ago I have written a post “It is now war”‘. In that post, I have written this paragraph:

This comes at a time when OTK is adamant in trying to get to the bottom of the PKFZ, much to the chagrin of the big brother, and for that and that alone, Malaysians must give full support to him. Whether he was given 10 millions as alleged by a BN power broker is another issue altogether and that should be left to the court to decide since a court case has already been filed by OTKeat for a whopping 500 millions.

I am neither a supporter of MCA nor its president OTK.  But this time, i think Malaysians must cast aside their personal likes or dislikes and support OTK as the Minister of Transport to dig deeper into the PKFZ fiasco. OTK of course needs to account for the allegations of the 10 millions as well as the need to take rides on private planes, but that is a different matter from this issue and should be addressed separately.

News has it that CSL faction has collected enough signature for a EGM, and if this is true , it is bad news for OTK. As I have said, many fence sitters are giving their support to CSL, either because of sympathy or they think that OTK should answer for the harsh punishment meted out to Chua.

I would like to urge MCA delegates to cast aside their personal feelings, and think of the larger issues. What will be the consequences of a CSL victory? What would happen if a vote of no confidence against OTK is passed and that CSL is reinstated as the deputy?

1. OTK would have to resign and CSL would automatically become acting president of MCA and with that

2. CSL may become the Minister of Transport. Although the making public of the PKFZ report is a cabinet decision, it would not have happened if the minister in charge is  opposed to it. So, credit must be given to OTk for pursuing this PKFZ issue. WOuld CSL continue pursue this with the same determination and zeal as OTK? Most unlikely.

3. Assuming that CSL becomes the minister, what would happen  if he tries to preach morality to Malaysians when his own moral standard has been tarnished? How is he going to handle any scandals that may erupt later in his ministry or party?

4. Imagine CSL leading a Malaysian delegation for an overseas trip and foreign media touch on the DVD sex scandal, what would happen to Malaysia? How would the other members of the delegation feels when faced with such situation?

5. As a minister, he has to project an image of purity and impeccability. But do you think he can still project that when he has lost the moral high ground? How is he going to talk to the younger generations and give advice to them?

6. HOw is he going to bargain with UMNO over certain national or community interests given that he himself has such a past history?

When the DVD sex scandal was made public many months ago, I wrote to praise him for his courage to own up his misdeeds. I still admire his courage to admit. He could have said that ‘the person in the dvd looks like me, sounds like me, move like me but not me”.

I have also mentioned that he was one of the best ministers of health, and his combination with Lee Kah Choon (parliamentary sec then) was deemed by most of the Ministry of Health staff as the most effective and best ever. However, the issue here is bigger than any person and if we want a continuity in pursuing the PKFZ and nabbed all the culprits, we need to put our support behind OTK.

Remember some time about 3 years ago, OTK digged out the embezzlement of a school allocation? At that time, he was asked to apologise and in the end , his minister (UMNO ) apologised on his behalf only to have MIC president voicing out the same thing in support of OTK. At that time OTK was only a deputy minister and Youth chief , a dispensable position, and yet he dared to speak out. That courage is admirable and is seldom present in BN non UMNO politicians, and for that he should be praised. This time we hope that he will have the same courage to pursue this PKFZ fiasco, which is many many times more serious than the school fund incident.

 The ball is now at the feet of the MCA delegates. Hopefully they do not think of personal ties and relations only but rather look at the bigger picture of national interest.

Leaders  come and go. CSL should have gracefully retired after the DVD scandal. Let OTK finish his work, and then if he cannot bring true reforms to MCA, then have someone challenge him at the next or subsequent party election. BUt in the mean time, we should give him a chance to prove himself. CSl should follow the advice of an old Chinese saying that a true leader  should be  able to take up, and know when to put down…It is time for him to put down his ambitions  and enjoy retirement….