Sex scandal Chua coming back too soon? (ref. malaysiakini)

Malaysiakini's report:

Since Dr Chua Soi Lek made his ‘remarkable’ comeback to active politics by winning the MCA deputy president’s post last Saturday, the big poser in the minds of many is whether a morally tainted politician could be accepted back into public life.

MCPX

In a random survey by Malaysiakini, many felt that Chua’s comeback was too soon while others were sympathetic, saying that he should be given a second chance.

PAS research centre director Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad suggested that Chua should “repent over his mistake, correct it, and continue to stay in repentance over a longer period.”

“I think it is a bit too soon for him to make a political comeback; it is even less than a year [since the sex scandal was exposed]. For me, he should take his time and take a longer break until he can really prove himself (that he has changed),” said Dzulkefly, who is also the MP for Kuala Selangor.

Another concern he brought up was that if Soi Lek indeed manages to prove himself to be a good leader despite his tainted past, this would also result in negative repercussions on younger people.

“We wouldn’t want to have a person whose background is tainted but turns out to be a good leader because people may perceive it differently. They can say, “that if he could do it (involved in an adulterous affair) and still holds public office just because he is capable, I could do that too!”

Political and personal life

Another opposition leader, Dr Mohd Nasir Hashim, also expressed doubts on whether Chua , a former health minister, could differentiate between his private and political life in the future.

“This all comes down to the question on what he did - does this reflect on his leadership? Some people may say that it is his lifestyle and he was just unlucky to be caught doing it.

“But it’s important to look at him as a person. Some people can’t differentiate between political and personal life, so can he do it?,” asked the PSM president.

Nasir, who was also trying to see the light at the end of the tunnel said it would be okay as long as Soi Lek does not get his private life entangled in politics but “can it be done?”

“This is one question the man must seriously ask himself,” he added.

Yesterday, Lim Teck Ghee, the director of think-tank Centre for Policy Initiatives described the MCA as bankrupt as the party has to elect someone with a sex scandal.

“Any politician in this situation should not run for public office (in the first place). There are other ways to contribute to society, given his background. He should not have stood for elections,” Teck Ghee blasted

‘Blind men take one-eyed man as their king’

Meanwhile, PAS Wanita chief Zuraida Kamaruddin described Soi Lek’s election as MCA deputy president as the case of “blind men taking the one-eyed man as their king”.

“Now, the spotlight is on him, and he has to be careful with what he does. This is his only chance to prove to others.

“Whatever he does in the future, he has to take pre-cautionary measures, have to be ‘doubly, triply-sure’ that he will not repeat the same mistake,” said the Ampang MP.

In a number of Chinese blogs picked up by Malaysiakini, the discussions generally cast a negative light on Soi Lek’s comeback.

To summarize it all, the bloggers have been unforgiving and came to a common conclusion that Chua Soi Lek is unethical and unfit to become a minister and a leader because of his sex scandal.
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They also agree that any minister must have a clean background and free from any unethical or moral misconduct in order to become a role model for others.

But two woman parliamentarians from the DAP are very forgiving.

Batu Gajah MP Fong Po Kuan agreed that if Soi Lek “can prove that he is a changed man, people would look beyond his morality and the issue will be secondary”.

“Now he is being put in a difficult situation, but what he needs to do now is to work on overcoming the difficulties,” said Po Kuan.

Be fair to Soi Lek

Serdang parliamentarian Teo Nie Ching does not see the morality issue as a big deal.

“I think it’s more important to gauge the level of confidence people has in a leader with tainted past. If they are confident and genuinely feel that the leader concerned is a good and capable person, the morality issue will not be that relevant.

“Whatever it is, it all depends whether he (Dr Chua) has truly repented over his mistakes. If he has genuinely repented, he deserves another chance because everyone makes mistakes,” said Nie Ching, who at 27 is Malaysia’s youngest MP.

She also said that Chua was a good health minister before he relinquished all his public positions (in early January this year) following the sex scandal.

“It is unfair if we continue to judge him on his past mistakes,” Nie Ching said.

When told that it would be impossible for western leaders involved in sex scandals to make a comeback like the case of President Clinton who was impeached, Nie Ching replied, “That’s the west. Our priorities are different.”

Following Soi Lek’s election as MCA deputy president, there was much speculations about his return to the cabinet.

Traditionally, the MCA deputy president is bestowed a full ministerial position. Even though Soi Lek is not an MP, he could still make it to the cabinet via the senate.

So far, he did not say he isn’t keen to come back as minister but newly elected president Ong Tee Keat has yet to meet the prime minister to discuss cabinet positions which traditionally are given to MCA - malaysiakini.com

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