Malaysians were recently treated to a display of dissent in Barisan Nasional’s ranks when MCA spokesman Ti Lian Ker engaged Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Aziz in a war of words over the latter’s perceived friendliness with DAP members.
Negeri Sembilan MCA Chairman Lim Chui Fui has since chimed in, with The Star quoting him as saying it was improper for Nazri to have such close ties with political rivals.
Nazri retorted that he had to show respect to DAP because he respected democracy. He added: “Why would I want to respect Ti when the people reject him? I am confident even if he were to contest in the general election, the rakyat will reject him because the Chinese people truly hate people like him.”
Ti says that Nazri is arrogant. That may be true; Nazri often makes statements most people would describe as condescending, but you get to flaunt a certain level of arrogance when you’re comfortably nestled as a minister and a member of the supreme council of the leading party in the ruling coalition.
One can understand Ti’s near-instinctive attack. Public displays of friendliness by an Umno leader for MCA’s biggest competitor for the Chinese community’s hearts could conceivably deal a blow to his party.
Lim Chui Fui commented that opposition leaders could be “cunning” and “claim credit for work done by the BN government”.
However, a more-than-cursory look at such friendliness, coupled with the more-than-common-sense thought that political disagreements do not necessarily equal personal animosity, should sufficiently justify Nazri’s chumminess with the opposition.
It also gives rise to another question: does MCA really have to be that jumpy? Well, yes.
The background to the Ti-Nazri spat is MCA’s iffy relevance within the Chinese community. The media narrative has long shifted Chinese focus in the public sphere to DAP, despite whatever the latter may say about its being a “multiracial” party.
DAP has become the first party spoken of whenever there is any talk of Chinese interests, sensitivities and the like. Politicians like Teresa Kok and Tony Pua do no small part in contributing to that with their annual Chinese New Year messages.
To put it in a slightly more exaggerated way: Nobody cares about MCA any more.
The more Ti and company attack Nazri for petty things like this, the less relevant they look.
Yes, Nazri looks like the playground bully in this case, but only because he was given no other choice than to punch down throughout the argument.
So yes, it’s perfectly fine to be friends with your political opponents. And yes, you look a little stupid for making an issue out of that. Such reactionary attacks from Ti and company only serve to sharpen this perspective. Silence would have served them better.