Good and bad followers

After the stalemate results from the Oct 10 EGM, can MCA still able to consolidate and re-invent itself and climb back to its former self before the 308 general election last year?

With the expected departure of Ong Tee Keat from the presidency, can MCA stand up to  the continuous bullying by big brother Umno and or ends up playing just an "extra" in the BN government?

Can green horn cabinet ministers like Liow Tiong Lai and Kong Cho Ha has the capability and courage to lead MCA in the face-offs with Umno.

Not that I don't have confidence in some of the people I know in MCA but the challenge is just too great for any of them to shoulder. They may be very comfortable and capable within their own domain but when it comes to dealing with Umno, many politicians in Umno are just too good and experience for any of the current MCA leaders. Umno politicians from the top leadership to the branch level are known to be able to eat, talk and sleep over politics all the time. There will be politics in everything they do or don't do. Most of the time the observant public wonders what these Umno politicians do for a living other than seeing and breathing politics in everything they do.

But then, all the blame cannot be pushed to Umno alone if MCA leaders can't deliver. It is MCA's delegates themselves which created or to be precise, wants to continue whatever the practice for the last 52 years. Umno fellas gets the contracts from the government, MCA leaders will obtain the sub-contracts and finish the job for their Umno comrades. Both sides will be happy and laughing all the way to the bank. Once, a former political secretary of a disgraced MCA minister gladly acknowledged the need for this "cooperation". From the results of the EGM, it can be deduced that at least half of the MCA delegates is still thinking along the same line which is totally do not synched with the feelings of the people especially the Chinese community they claimed to represents.

When MCA disintegrates, it is not because of their internal squabbles but due to the failure of the MCA delegates to read and win the mind and heart of the Chinese populace in this country. Some of MCA's delegates already forgotten the psychological warfare against the communist in the yesteryears when winning the heart and mind of the people was on the top of the agenda that won the war against the communists during the Emergency years.

The direction of the MCA is not set by the elected leader alone but by the guidance and wisdom of the delegates whom elected the leader. You deserves what you asked for. In any organisation, leaders will come and go, no one is indispensable. The problem is not with Ong Tee Keat or Chua Soi Lek but the people who decides who they want to lead them. If you elect a leader expecting favours, position and awards in return for your support, what is left  of you to take care of the needs of the people that you claimed to represent.

In a democracy, there is no good or lousy leader but there are good and bad followers. A leader, whether good or bad, is elected by the followers. If the leader performs badly, it is because the followers elect him and allows it to happens. If the leader done a great job, it is due to the followers wisdom in giving the person the opportunity to lead. In this aspect, the real leader is actually the followers or delegates who makes the decision to appoints someone to represents them in fulfilling their needs.

Can the MCA delegates/central committee members sees these when they select the next leader to represent and lead them? I am doubtful. - Loka