YB Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir with his father, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, former Prime Minister of Malaysia
On the current MCA drama...
MCA is the second largest party in the BN. (But) even one small part can damage the whole of BN. On one hand I'm glad that we're going through this painful experience early on, not two years down the road. On the other hand, I just hope that all the leaders who are at each others' throats now, are thinking of the interest of the people.
It's obvious that it's a race for positions in the party. It's come to the point where we don't see people willing to sacrifice self-interest for the party. If they assume to represent the Chinese community, I'm wondering whether they have the best interest of the Chinese community at heart.
Ironically, I don't think (MCA still speaks for the Chinese community). This is what happens when you forget your own mission in life. You don't realise your house is burning down and you're still squabbling. It happened in UMNO also. If you asked me the same question maybe a year and a half ago, I'd have said, "Yeah, the UMNO house was burning down, definitely." And yet, the infighting was just too much. Never in our history have we had such a long party election. It lasted 15 months, or something like that. Tussling. It was a marathon, one that was fraught with a lot of dirty tactics... all within one party. It's not like we're using this against the opposition; it's amongst ourselves. That seems to be happening to MCA right now. The more they're like that, the more support the DAP gets.
But solving the internal issue is only one problem. After that they have to try to convince the Chinese community, and all of Malaysia at large, that they're worthy of support. I haven't seen them do that just yet. Everyone's really turned off by what's going on there now.
On the future of UMNO...
(There's) still the perception that we have not addressed the issue of corruption. It doesn't seem to me like we have gone on an all out war to cleanse ourselves of this scourge. I feel very strongly that if we don't at least show some sincerity in doing so, support from our young people - our idealistic young people, particularly - will be pretty slow to come. You can talk about everything else with the youth, but if you have this shadow over your heads...it doesn't help.
I believe that there is a balance to be struck between Western and Eastern values. It's absolutely possible to do that. I'd love to see Beyonce performing here. But I'd like, if I had the chance, to tell her that we enjoy her music and her voice, and it doesn't necessarily have to come with all the flesh.
As I understand it, she feels that it's a package - it's her music, show and the outfits - so it's "take it or leave it". We can't get her to change anything. That's disappointing because she's got a huge fan base here, myself included. I've seen her perform in Jakarta, and it's an enjoyable show, so I'd love to see her here. It's just local sensitivities, that's all.
And finally...
We (Malaysians) are survivors. I mean, how does a nation fail? It's not easy to fail. Of course it's even harder to succeed. I think the most important thing is the government has identified what the problems are. That's a major first move.
It's a work in progress. The clock is ticking; we don't have the time to while away. We really need to solve all these problems now.
copied from news.malaysia.msn.com
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