19 April 2021

Press statement by MCA Vice President Datuk Tan Teik Cheng

Attempting to slander MCA founder Tun Tan Cheng Lock, Tun Dr Mahathir shows that he is still a racial extremist

Tun Mahathir is trying to erase history and deny the important contributions and merits of the Chinese community in Malaysia during the struggle for independence from the British and in building up this young country. In an attempt to deny Malaysian Chinese’s contribution in the formation of Malaysia, he even distorted history and labelled MCA founding President Tun Tan Cheng Lock’s efforts in acquiring citizenship for the Malaysian Chinese community as extremism. While these remarks come from an internationally known extremist, we can see that it is actually testament to MCA’s struggle to obtain citizenship for the Chinese in Malaya at the time, and MCA’s efforts in establishing our country’s pluralistic, moderate political system. These efforts are historical achievements that cannot be denied.

In a recent interview, former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir accused MCA for being an “extreme” political party. Tun Mahathir’s reasoning was that the first MCA President Tun Tan Cheng Lock requested before independence for the local Chinese to be unconditionally granted citizenship rights, and his endeavour received support from the British colonial government. Not only Tun Mahathir’s rhetoric failed to make any sense, it underscores once again him as an unapologetic extremist and racist.

I would like to stress that MCA was established before independence, during the Darurat period, and while its original purpose was to assist the Malaysia Chinese community from difficulties, such as preventing the deportation of nearly 500,000 Malaysian Chinese and also helping in rebuilding their homes in the new villages; during the same period, the MCA also worked with their partners in the Alliance to fight for Malaya’s independence from Britain, on top of participating in the process of drafting the Constitution. The creation of citizenship rights for the Malaysian Chinese has established the political status of the Chinese in Malaysia. In the social contract where they share political power with their partners in the BN coalition, BN also guarantees the continuation of each ethnic group’s identity, that is, their respective cultures, languages, and religions, whilst keeping pace with the times. All these achievements have been recorded in the history book, and cannot be disputed.

Like many of his previous remarks, Tun Mahathir’s statement this time is again subjective and purely based on his personal narrow point of view, omitting various historical facts, grossly out of context, whilst also using flawed rhetoric to slander against one of Malaysia’s founding fathers, Tun Tan Cheng Lock. His intention is of course to use his usual tactics: to provoke conflicts between the races, to hype up racial sentiments, and to portray himself as a hero to certain people.

In short, Mahathir has never changed. He is still the kind of self-righteous, self-serving dictator, with the sort of thinking that “those who support me shall prosper, but those who go against me shall die”. Anyone who doesn't obey him will be condemned by him. That is why Tun Mahathir keeps praising Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng for becoming ‘no longer extreme', because during the Pakatan Harapan administration, the Lims were obedient and submissive to Tun Mahathir, and Tun Mahathir decided to forgive and forget all their past extreme words and deeds.

Datuk Tan Teik Cheng

MCA Vice President

-MCA Online-