WHY THE MCA THE MIC forms the third He gave me the assurance leg of the old Alliance and Pelabuhan Kelang used that all that would stop and not seem to be anyone in is the smallest of the to be an MIC stronghold SHOULD GET that the general assembly sight in Penang from the triumvirate. Ever since its under the late Tan Sri V. due in Penang later in the Gerakan that is acceptable formation it has been beset Manickavasagam although year would be held in peace to the public as a Chief with bickerings, quarrels, he was given a fright by Lee and harmony. Minister. fist fights at meetings, and Lam Thye in 1969. But now I am glad that for once an One good candidate even court cases. Its with the demise of Tan Sri MIC president was able to would be Dr Goh Cheng strength has been dissi- V. Manickavasagam the enforce his edict and since Teik but he has no experi- pated by these internecine MIC is not so strong there then the MIC has been ence in state politics and struggles. jnd the seat may well be preparing quietly for the this may be a handicap. But lost to the DAP particularly When I interviewed coming elections. It has in Alliance and Barisan cir- DAMANSARA Datuk Samy Vellu last Au- if PAS splits the Malay cles it has happened before been allocated only four lute power corrupts abso- gust, I bluntly told him that vote. — when a newcomer was federal seats to contest and lutely. the MIC was the laughing in 1978 it won in Sungei Both Datuk Samy Vellu plucked out of the blue to After winning the most slock of Malaysians of all Siput, Teluk Kemang, in Sg. Siput and Datuk K. serve as MB or CM and if seats in the federal elec- races and was the court Pelabuhan Kelang but lost Pathmanaban in Teluk Dr Goh Cheng Teik is tions of 1964, it started to jester of Malaysian politics. in Damansara. Kemang look safe. But pitchforked into that posi- swallow up the main Damansara is a Chinese tion he will be no better or opposition party — UPKO majority seat and the MIC no worse off than many — and then it held absolute would be well advised to other MBs or CMs before sway in the State. It exchange it with the MCA. him. But he has experience crushed all forms of opposi- Unlike the other compo- of federal politics, this tion until it became too big nents of the Barisan in being his second terin as a for its boots and that fright- Peninsular Malaysia the deputy minister. MIC is fortunate in that it ened the Centre. Up to the time we broke does not have too many As I have related before, away from the Gerakan it claimants to the four feder- the Centre engineered the was truely a multi-racial al seats it has been allo- breakaway Berjaya which party and had fair support cated. At state level the won the state elections of from the labour movement MIC is represented in most 1975 and 1980. After the in this country. It was state assemblies and there defeat of 1975, Tun Mus- spoken of even in Malay will be some jockeying for tapha resigned as chairman circles as a possible alterna- seats but nothing like the of the party and was suc- tive to the Alliance. clamour that had plagued ceeded by Tan Sri Hj. the other bigger component I have had many top civil Mohamed Said bin Keruak. parties of the Barisan. It servants and Malays telling But after the crushing de- will go into the coming me so but after my friends feat of Usno in the State general election fairly un- and I left the Gerakan and elections of 1980 he too ited and well prepared for it joined the Barisan, it lost resigned and was in turn the fray. that image, and being in the succeeded by Tun Mus- Barisan it could not be- tapha. The Gerakan held its come an alternative gov- general assembly towards However, this form of Penang Chief Minister Dr Lim Chang Eu... who will succeed him? ernment. It is no secret that musical chairs is not going the end of last year. It was a have another go but it will State Minister and the Supp my friends and I resisted all to restore the credibility of tame affair as compared be difficult for the DAP to should do well in the com- attempts to join the the party in Sabah and in with the fierce struggle for move into the interior of ing elections. Alliance. We were not in- the coming federal elec- leadership in 1979 when Dr Sarawak. The Snap is the main terested in becoming glor- tions the Usno may well Lim Chong Eu decided to The Barisan in Sarawak Iban Party in Sarawak ified ministers but alter we once again be annihilated relinquish the leadership is a triumvirate consisting although it is multi-racial left, the Gerakan joined by the Berjaya. and it was contested by the Barisan. of the Parti Pesaka Bumi- and multi-religious. Indeed Datuk Dr Lim Keng Yaik The Berjaya is,a break- putra Bersatu (PBB) which its present chairman is and Datuk Paul Leong. away of Usno with the has been formed in 1975 by Datuk James Wong who in Dr Lim Chong Eu, to- POWER addition of new blood. Un- the merger of the old Bumi- the days when Snap was in wards the end of the con- like Usno which is a Mus- putra Party and the Pesaka the opposition had been lim-based party, Berjaya is Bahan asal dari Arkib test, came out openly ill Tun Hj. Razak also Party. detained under the ISA for a multi-racial and multi- Negara Malaysia support of Datuk Paul brought the PPP into the For a long time the chair- 16 months. He had been a religious party. Thus Leong but it was Datuk Dr Barisan. But the PPP had man of the party was Datuk Deputy Chief Minister of although the Chief Minister Lim Keng Yaik who won. long passed the zenith or its Patinggi Tan Sri Abdul Sarawak. The party had is a Muslim his deputy is a This led to a little split in power with the demise of Rahman Yacob who was been revitalised under the Roman Catholic and there the party but the new presi- D.R. Seenivasagam. also the Chief Minister. But previous secretary-general are some Chinese in the dent has since united the In 1974 even S.P. Seeni- in 1981 he resigned as Chief Datuk Leo Moggie, now a State Cabinet. party behind him. vasagam lost badly in Minister and became Gov- Federal Minister. It has gone from strength In the middle of last year Menglembu and the only ernor. He was succeeded There is a group of young to strength since its forma- the strength of the party survivor was Su Liang Yu by Datuk Patinggi Amar Ibans who have provided a tion but it must not let was boosted by the arrival in Bruas. Taib Mohamud who res- powerful thrust in the party power go to its head or else of Datuk Michael Chen In 1978, he, loo, lost to igned his Cabinet post as and in the State Govern- it will meet the same fate as who left the MCA to join the DAP and for the first well as his Federal seat. He ment. Snap should do well its predeccesor — Usno. the Gerakan and was time since 1959 the PPP will now lead the Barisan in the coming general elec- appointed vice-president. was not represented in Par- The previous Govern- forces into battle in tions in Sarawak. ment carried discrimination Both Datuk Dr Lim liament. In 1980 its sole Sarawak. The Berjasa was the too far. Another feature of Keng Yaik and Datuk State Assemblyman in Che- Although in 1978 the latest party to join the Bari- Sabah politics is the enor- Michael Chen have been mor, Perak crossed over to Barisan lost one seat, Lam- san and it was a breakaway mous sums spent during former Ministers of new the Gerakan and now it has bir, to Sapo, it is likely that of PAS just as PAS was an elections. villages and both of them no representatives in either it will once again sweep the offshoot of the Umno in the the Dewan Rakyat or at set about opening new The Pekemas contested a board this year although early Fifties. state level. few constituencies in the branches all over the the DAP must not be taken Its president, Senator 1975 elections and it had country. The PPP is now headed lightly. It may well snatch Hj. Mohamed Nasir had difficulty in finding the de- by S.I. Rajah and it has one or two seats from the become MB of Kelantan The Gerakan now has posit for its candidates. been racked by internal dis- Barisan. just before the break. He notable strength in Johore, None of its candidates Negri Sembilan, Kedah and sension. Most of their quar- refused to resign when cal- could afford to spend more Malacca. It has also gone to rels have been patched up led upon to do so by the than $3,000 each. Both Kelantan, Trengganu and and the PPP is confident of MULTI-RACIAL party and as violence Usno and Berjaya think Pahang where before it had its chances in the coming threatened to unleash in elections. But I feel that nothing of spending no branches at all. Hence The Supp is one of the Kelantan the Centre step- PPP in its present state of $100,000 on a candidate. their clamour to be allowed oldest parties in Sarawak ped in, declared a State of disunity has lost its credibil- Towards the end of the to contest in these areas as and until 1970 it was the Emergency in Kelantan ity and will be given a campaign, money in brand well. main opposition in Sara- and ruled by decree. thrashing by the DAP new notes was carried in wak. But in 1970 it joined Tan Sri Hashim Aman, a The Gerakan was estab- should they meet in the sacks to buy votes! There Party Bumiputra to form civil servant, now chief lished as a multi-racial par- next election. were no election petition to the coalition government secretary to the Cabinet, ty and it remained so when declare the elections null As I have mentioned be- and its long-time chairman, was appointed Supremo Dr Syed Hussein Alates, and void on the ground of fore, Sabah is the only ex- Tan Sri Ong Kee Hui until the state elections Ve. Veerappen, V. David, spending more than the leg- Yeoh Teck Chye and I ception where both the rul- joined the Federal Cabinet were held on March 1978. ing party — the Berjaya — al limit allowed! I have no together with many others and is today the oldest In the state elections that and the main opposition doubt that money will be were in the party. Cabinet Minister. followed, Umno swept the Usno are members of the spent just as freely in the board, winning 23 of the 36 But when we left it be- Barisan. coming general elections. The Supp is multi-racial came another edition of the and multi-religious. contested seats. Berjasa It was in Sarawak that UDP — Dr Lim Chong Although most of its mem- won 11 and PAS a beggarly The Usno was the first to the idea of coalition was Eu's old party. Now it still bers are Chinese it has a two seats. be accepted into the Bari- first tried out at state level. proclaims itself to be a mul- san being the ruling party fair number of Ibans among Then for the first time in The 1970 state elections left ti-racial party but there is until 1974. It is no secret its membership and some Peninsular Malaysia, the three main parties, Par- no doubt that it is a that the breakaway of Ber- have even been elected to Umno and Berjasa formed ty Bumiputra, Supp and Chinese-based party now jaya was engineered from the Dewan Rakyat. There a state coalition govern- Snap, evenly poised with 8, — hence its feud with the Kuala Lumpur. It was also is always a Supp Deputy ment with Datuk Mohamed 12, 12 seats each. Secret MCA. accepted into the Barisan. Chief Minister and Tan Sri Yacob as MB. negotiations were carried It swept the polls in 1974 Ong Kee Hui's long career Earlier Datuk Hj. I have already touched between all these three par- and again in 1978. In the both in the Cabinet and Mohamed Nasir had been on the animosity between ties, and Party Bumiputra state elections, it won in outside as well must be appointed to the Senate the MCA and the Gerakan and the Supp formed the 1975 and in 1980 it annihi- coming to an end soon. If and was appointed Minister and despite the efforts of state coalition government. Musa and company, no one lated the Usno despite the he does retire from politics without, Portfolio in the Later before the 1974 seems to be able to unite return of Tun Mustapha to his most likely successor as Prime Minister's Depart- lead the party. It will be a elections Snap was brought the Gordian Knot. a Cabinet Minister is Dr ment. Since 1978 the Ber- into the Barisan fold and long time before the Usno Wong Soon Kai who was a jasa has not been very ac- The other problem lies in that triumvirate has ruled regains its pristine glory, if contemporary of the Prime tive although it had just Penang. There Dr Lim ever. Sarawak since 1972. In the Minister Datuk Seri Dr roped in Prof. Syed Hussin Chong Eu must be nearing 1981 state elections a new- Mahathir while at college Alatas as its latests recruit the end of his long career in Usno is the oldest politic- comer appeared on the and in the university in of prominence. As a result, politics but who is to suc- al party in Sabah, and ex- scene in Sarawak, namely Singapore. He was a bril- it may well receive a ceed him there? There does emplifies the truism that the DAP, but in the State liant student and should thrashing from PAS when power corrupts and abso- elections that year, it did make a good Cabinet the next round comes not win a single seat. This Minister. He is as present a along. year the DAP will no doubt