Dr. Chua was caught having sex with a woman but not his wife by a hidden camera earlier this year. Within days, he held a press conference and courageously admitted to his indiscretion and resigned from his ministerial position and went into political wilderness.
Last week, he fought back to political limelight after beating the establishment candidate for deputy Presidential office of the MCA ( the Malaysian Chinese Association), the second largest political party in the BN (the National Front), the ruling coalliation government.
As a matter of political convention, the MCA is allocated with four full ministerial positions and the MCA deputy President can legitimately, by virtue of the second most senior position in the party, ask for one of the four slots.
The debate launched by the Dr. Chua's opponent (the so-called Camp A including the sitting party President Ong Tee Keat and the losing Deputy Presidential candidate, Ong Ka Chuan, brother to former President Ong Ka Ting), has argued that someone with moral indiscretion is not fit to be elected, earlier, to the party office and now, made a minister.
The debate is coded in the classic Confucianist language, 才德, competence and ethics.
Failing to thwart Dr. Chua election to the party post, the opponent seeks to thwart Dr Chua appointment to the cabinet. Paradoxically, the anti-Dr. Chua protagonist do not renounce those who set up the hidden camera recording and who distributed them which are both despicable and illegal.
The tenet of their argument is basically that Dr. Chua's appointment, by reason of his extra-marital affair (or rather the fact that it was recorded on video), will lower the estimation of the MCA and the Chinese in the eye of the coalliation partner and the Malaysian public with a large Muslim majority .
It is poignant to recall 德才兼备 (possessing both ethics and competency) as a qualification to be a public officer in the Confucianism. Dr. Chua is portyared as wanting of ethics.
Set against this background, the question is whether there is a difference between 公德 public ethics (in this sense we may well call it the political ethics) and 私德 private morality.
All the attack on Dr.Chua is his hotel room exploit and not his competence and also his public/political ethic.
Based on the party election result, Dr. Chua's violation of private morality, the much ballyhood issue during the campaign, has not stopped him from his political comeback. The delegates have largely absolved him of his private moral indiscretion.
This in large part is a recognition that Dr. Chua has maintained a better image and widely perceived as a responsible politician taking the step to resign following the hidden camera recording. His resignation is commendable as he returns the mandate to the people to see if he will be forgiven and re-accepted.
First, he secured his spouse and his family's forgiveness.
Then, his son stood in for him, contested and won the March 8 parliamentaty election in a seat he previously held amidst what is now known as heavy nation-wide electoral losses to the MCA. This is as good as he won by proxy.
Finally, he won the tough party election last week. These three separate and related events vindicated and redeemed him personally and politically.
The result can be analysed as the MCA grassroot valuing competency and also public/political ethics as greater qualification to the party/public office. This result is also in line with the secular and meritocratic values of Chinese Malaysian.
The holier-than-thou altitude or peeping (or secretly recording) Tom behavior are not supported and I find these relieving and reassuring as a sign of political maturity in favor of competency and public/political ethis over private moral misbehaviour.
At all time, competency and public/political ethics should be held as more important requirement of holding a public office. Cronism, nepotism, corruption, abuse of power, dishonesty and racism in the Malaysia context are greater impediment to good governance.
Dr. Chua has won the party mandate to be appointed to, and the Prime Minister should exercise his prerogative to made him, a full minister.
Let me end by sharing a rarely known historical fact. One of my favorite but controversial historical figure, 曹操 Cao Cao, of the Romance of Three Kingdom's fame or notoriety, placed competency and public ethic above private morality in the selection of officers. No wonder he incurs the wrath of generation of Confucianist disciples and is portrayed in the negative light. By statictis, the peoples and the territory under the Cao's administration was superior in not just in output, living standard but also in culture and literacy. His succesors eventually united the divided China then.
2 comments:
Appeared in Malaysiakini
Soi Lek as minister: Public ethics vs private morality
Tanky18 | Oct 28, 08 3:39pm
The Chinese Malaysian political scene is now arguing over whether it is ethical to appoint Dr Chua Soi Lek as a minister.
Chua was caught having sex with a woman but not his wife by a hidden camera late last year. Within days, he held a press conference and courageously admitted to his indiscretion and resigned from his ministerial position and went into the political wilderness.
Last week, he fought back into political limelight after beating the establishment candidate for the deputy presidential office of the MCA, the second largest political party in the BN, the ruling coalition government.
As a matter of political convention, the MCA is allocated with four full ministerial positions so the MCA deputy president can legitimately, by virtue of being in the second most senior position in the party, ask for one of the four slots.
The attack launched by Chua's opponents (the so-called Camp A including the sitting party president Ong Tee Keat and the losing deputy presidential candidate, Ong Ka Chuan, brother to former president Ong Ka Ting), argues that someone with moral indiscretion is not fit to be elected to the party office and now, made a minister.
The debate is coded in the classic Confucian language, centering on competence and ethics.
Failing to thwart Chua’s election to the party post, the opponents now seek to thwart his appointment to the cabinet. Paradoxically, the anti-Chua protagonists do not denounce those who set up the hidden camera and who distributed the recording - both of which are despicable and illegal acts.
The tenet of their argument is basically that Chua's appointment, by reason of his extra-marital affair (or rather the fact that it was recorded on video), will lower the estimation of the MCA and the Chinese in the eyes of BN coalition partners and the Malaysian public with a large Muslim majority.
It is poignant to recall that ethics and competency are qualifications to be a public officer according to the classic Confucianism. Chua is portrayed as wanting of ethics.
Set against this background, the question is whether there is a difference between public ethics (in this sense we may well call it political ethics) and private morality.
All the attacks on Chua are with regards to his his hotel room escapade and not his competence or his public/political ethics.
Based on the party elections result, Chua's violation of private morality became a heated issue during the campaign but it did not stop him from making his political comeback. The MCA delegates have largely absolved him of his private moral indiscretion.
This in large part is a recognition of Chua's political judgment and survival skills. Chua is widely perceived as being a responsible politician after he took the step to resign following the hidden camera recording.
His resignation is commendable and he returned to seek a mandate from the people to see if he would be forgiven and re-accepted. First however, he secured his spouse and family's forgiveness.
Then his son stood in for him, contested and won the March 8 parliamentaty election, for the seat Chua previously held. This amidst the heavy nationwide electoral losses for the MCA. He won by proxy.
Finally, he won the tough MCA deputy presidential contest last week. These three separate and related events vindicated and redeemed him personally and politically.
The result can be analysed as the MCA grassroots valuing competency and also public/political ethics as greater qualification to a party/public office. This result is also in line with the secular and meritocratic values of the Chinese Malaysian.
The holier-than-thou altitude or peeping (or rather secretly recording) Tom behavior is not supported and I find this reassuring as a sign of political maturity. Competency and public/political ethics in favour over private moral misbehaviour.
At all times, competency and public/political ethics should be held as more important requirements for holding a public office. Cronism, nepotism, corruption, abuse of power, dishonesty and racism in the Malaysia context are greater impediments to good governance.
Chua has won the party mandate to be appointed to the cabinet and the prime minister should exercise his prerogative to make him a full minister.
Bro, What I am hearing is the argument that the ethical standards (to stand) and be elected Deputy President of the MCA lower than that for a Minister?
So it goes, if an MCA leader/member do not feel the responsibility to protect his own party against so-called unethical persons, is it "leadership" to be concerned when a cabinet appointment is at stake.
To me, a cabinet appointment is the PM's prerogative, so no one - especially a political rival - has the right to object.
Post a Comment