First, the MCA took a leaf from the MIC manual for conducting meetings, and hurled chairs and whatever came to hand at each other; then it took a leaf from the PAS manual on how to let the world know what it cannot report. By combing the two manuals, MCA president is made to shiver in his pants. That he does with the ground at odds with him, whose recent decisions can cost them aplenty in the future. The Nanyang Press purchase is not the good buy the MCA president, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik, crowed about. He is sold a lemon, and he puts the MCA investments in deep trouble.

So, when a VCD of the fracas at the MCA Youth annual general meeting on August 3, amidst normal MIC decorum, Dr Ling is upset. He thinks that those who did are moral cowards who would not show themselves. It is as are despicable as the ghosts he allows in key MCA branches. Of course, he does not know anything of the ghosts amongst members, as he does not of the ghosts responsible for the VCD.

He does not know what the VCD is all about, only knows what his aides and officials told him of it, is not curious to find out about it, is happy to shoot his mouth. No wonder, he is much valued as a cabinet minister. Like every cabinet minister, he talks of matters he does not know anything of. And nows issues a dare: would the ghost who made the VCD and distributed it widely come forward and be the man he should be.

One duty of an irrelevant party president is to be chief moral adviser, and you know of course sending stuff anonymously is bad, a naughty thing to do, he had better own up and take his punishment. He would have as much hope in that as the MCA had in expecting him to resign after he said he would. There are therefore no takes for his moral dilemmas. There are, of course, in the MCA president's view, no moral dilemmas in peppering the MCA lists with long time residents of Malaysia's cemetries.

But how Dr Ling addresses problems in the MCA reflects how serious they are. He believes all he needs to do is to speak from Olympian heights and all would be well. He is as isolated from his flock as the Prime Minister from his, with this one important difference: When Dr Mahathir wants Chinese support, the last person he would seek advise from is the MCA president.

Not that that would save Dr Mahathir, but it shows how poorly served the Malaysian government is with community leaders in the government not being able to address the flock, or allow open elections. They have all been in office for too long, are out of touch, and believes their sole role is to remain in the cabinet for as long as they can. The interests of the communities they represent do not count.

So, when Dr Ling dares the ghost who filmed the fracas at the MCA Youth AGM, he forgets one of the realities of modern life. There are cinecameras at every meeting, filming the events for what they hope is posterity, but in reality to show how self-important to the community they represent are. Some are officially appointed, many are just curious to test their new cameras or to show the faithfully how important these meetings are.

The footage of one account of the fracas could have been purloined, or it could have been shot by one of those present, and it was put on VCD. Why should the perpetrator show himself to be destroyed? The only question to ask, which Dr Ling does not, is: did the events happen? If it did, why is he upset that it is recorded for posterity?

Because all political parties do not allow a free flow of exchange between members and leaders, and those who do are marked men and women; one need not enumerate instances, which occur in every political party, government and opposition. The parties exist to honour its president as a demi-god, and incidentally, to win general elections. So, those members who believe they are to be active in politics must look for other creative ways.

PAS led the march here, distributing VCDs of their ceremahs and talks in the hundreds of thousands to obviate the restrictions put by the government on their activity. UMNO Youth got a black eye when the PAS VCD record of its meeting with PAS Youth hit the video stalls within days. It is this which has led to the official ban on porno and political VCDs. The pornos were targetted first, and then, as an aside, the political VCDs were roped in. And now one to show how closely the MCA Youth delegate follow the MIC rules of meeting.

Strangely, the MCA president has not done what others do with alacrity: he has not reported the matter to the police. Why? If it is as reprehensible as he implies it is, or lies, the police must be subborned to waste their time investigating the illegal distribution -- especially since it does not have the censor's certificate as the law requires. So, what is holding him from that step?

Could it be that the footage came from the official cameras, and it was pressed into VCDs and distributed by the president's men to show how unruly the MCA Youth are -- since the Youth leader is not the president's man, but the deputy president's, he must be an unruly fellow! -- but it backfired on him and questioned his own stewardship. So, he talks from Mount Olympus, or rather, Gunung Tahan, with intent to obfuscate. So, what else is new?

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my