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Is Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik On His Way Out?

The MCA-owned newspaper, the Nanyang Siang Pau, had an article last Wednesday (06 November 2002) that the MCA president, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik, had left on a farewell working holiday to China. The next day, the Nanyang carries Dr Ling's call to party members not to listen to rumours he is about to resign on his return from China and India. Between the two statements lies a tale of intrigue and friction between the Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, and Dr Ling. Heads would no doubt roll at the Nanyang for what happened. But would the Nanyang editors print a story about the MCA president's future without checking if it is true? The MCA president would not have planted his own political demise unless it is at a press conference so he could get the kudos for it. The only one who could order that sort of story must come from up higher: the MCA president's president aka the Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed.

Dr Lim was to have gone on leave in September. He postponed it to October, which he moved to November because of a Barisan Nasional meeting. He goes now so he would be out of the country when the Soh Chee Wen trial opens next week. There was a clear deadline that he should resign from the cabinet before the trial starts, or he could well be implicated in it. Dato' Soh Chee Wen was his nominee on the MCA presidential council, and helped his son acquire debts of more than RM1.2 billion. They fell out, and when police wanted to interview him, he fled overseas. He returned to face trial, feted by the media and all and sundry, the inference being that he was to blacken Dr Ling's name at the trial as much as he could. But Dr Ling got a reprieve because Dr Mahathir needed Chinese support in the coming general elections, and he need Dr Ling to drum it up for him. He won this battle to stay on and defeat his deputy, Dato' Seri Lim Ah Lek. But he fell foul of Dr Mahathir over the teaching of science and mathematics in English in Chinese schools. He became expendable once more.

So, the Nanyang printed this exclusive was given to tell Dr Ling where he stood, that even if the MCA controlled the Nanyang, it would still carry stories inimical to the MCA president's political health if UMNO wanted it run. Curiously, no newspaper, not even the MCA-controlled The Star, carried the denial the Nanyang carried the next day. All it did was to translate the Nanyang story not to listen to rumours. That only raised more eyebrows. The article refers to rumours, not to its own story, and quotes Dr Ling telling MCA members not to listen to them on the day he was already in Beijing. It was a last minute attempt at damage control, and as usual, it did a bad job of it. It embarrassed the MCA leadership at how impotent it is in the political landscape, unable even to prevent a story which Dr Ling insists is false to appear in a newspaper it controls and deeply in debt for. The Star could not write about it for it would have run into trouble with the Prime Minister's Office. Discretion, in the newspaper business in Malaysia, is the better part of valour.

Dr Ling hopes that his trip to Beijing and India would end after the trial. Whether he would go free of his murky ties with Dato' Soh is uncertain. If the Prime Minister wants Dr Ling destroyed, his problems only begin. But one thing is certain: the pressures against him can only multiply. He still runs the MCA as his personal fief. He did not consult his Presidential Council when he bought the MCA; nor did he, recently, when he bought an educational institution without the Presidential Council's knowledge. He believes he need not since it is an MCA subsidiary which bought it. As he claimed he did not need the MCA Presidiential Council approval to buy Nanyang Siang Pau. Like all party leaders in the National Front (BN), he insists he is the leader who cannot under any circumstgances be challenged, and what he says and does is the absolute guide the party must follow.

Dr Ling's predicament is but a small measure of the BN's larger problem with its voters: the arrogance of power. He, like every of his BN colleagues, insist upon no challenge to his leadership, re-elected endlessly unopposed, and insist upon the absolute loyalty of the party. Any who challenges is to be treated with the utmost contempt, as he does his own deputy president. It is in this make-believe world, officially encouraged, that he rules as a naked emperor. The MCA has no life on its own, and it depends on the Malay vote for its leaders to be returned to Parliament, the Chinese vote having deserted it a long time ago. There are few MCA leaders who can be returned from solidly Chinese constituencies. While the MCA is the second most important party in the BN coalition, the Gerakan throws rings around it. It allowed, over the years, to be beholden to UMNO. Now even UMNO does not believe it. The Prime Minister now has two Chinese political secretaries, both selected without MCA approval. But Dr Ling continues to believe he has the Prime Minister's support to remain in power. But Dr Mahathir realises by now what an albatross Dr Ling would be around his neck if he continues to remain MCA president.

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