The MCA president credited Najib for being bold in confronting long-standing problems faced by the nation in the latter’s first 100 days as the country’s sixth Prime Minister.

However, Ong said the Barisan Nasional was in for a tough time and coalition leaders must face head on those resistant to change and transform to meet the people’s expectations.

Ong also credited the March 8 general election results and the rise in people’s expectations of the Government to the introduction of the new media.

Ong: ‘The teaching of Science and Maths in English could only help us to improve our grasp of techni cal English. It doesn’t help enhance our competitiveness as far as the mastery of English is concerned.’

Q. Could you please give us your impression of the 100 days of Datuk Seri Najib’s office as PM and also your position since March 8?

A. By and large, the people would agree that our new PM has manifested concern for the people’s problems, especially some of the long outstanding problems confronting our nation.

At the same time, he is bold enough to take the bull by its horns, not just through the announcement he made (last Saturday) in addressing the 11 items but also at the same time, he identified key result areas (KRAs). The KRAs are pertinent to the public perception and public aspiration at the same time.

And as far as the post March 8 politics is concerned, I would say this is the toughest time ever, not just in the history of MCA but also for Barisan as the ruling party.

The people’s expectations have been on the rise with the introduction of the new media – the alternative media.

I think it is time for the ruling party to take cognisance of the rising needs of the people, especially the young people, and the business is definitely not going to be as usual, as the saying goes.

When the respective parties especially those within the Barisan talk about transformation – of course I am one of them – we must be able to see that the transformation we are now spearheading will only take place with firm commitment and political will.

And I forsee that in each and every party, when you talk about changes, you are bound to face resistance. Sometimes, part of the resistance, I would say, is largely due to fear.

People may think that when you initiate changes, you are definitely going to cause an impact which might be undesirable to certain quarters.

PPSMI and MCA’s stand

The MCA has a pragmatic reason for supporting the switch in the medium of instruction from English back to Bahasa Malaysia and the mother tongues.

Ong said this was because there were not enough teachers who could teach Mathematics and Science in English.

However, he also revealed that he was for the proposal for the two subjects to be taught in English at the secondary level.

> One of the issues that has been hotly debated is the Government’s stand to revert the teaching of Maths and Science to the vernacular languages. There is fear that we have not come to a clear conclusion, particularly at secondary school level. We are not sure whether it is being taught in English or in Bahasa or Chinese. What is the stand of the Government at this point?

> Well, throughout the past six years or even more since the implementation of the policy – in Bahasa we call it PPSMI or the teaching of Science and Maths in English – we have come across various schools of thought and polemics. Unfortunately, many of these people, including the politicians and NGOs alike, tend to argue their case along linguistic lines.

Perhaps, sometimes people say that they make a stand because they need to show their love for a particular language; but to me as a pragmatist – I would call myself a pragmatist – I would prefer to look at several key issues that are dear to my heart or perhaps that are equally relevant to the general public, irrespective of race.

Room for confusion: The problems of Chinese schools are unique as they are given the liberty and latitude to conduct Science and Maths in both English and Mandarin.

Firstly, when we first implemented the policy, were we ready at that point? Especially with the teaching staff and the teaching aid that we had, were we ready? The answer is unfortunately in the negative.

We might have had something good, some good intention; but if we could not find an adequate pool of teachers who were trained to teach Science and Maths in English, that is going to precipitate some undesirable effects at the end of the day.

On top of that, don’t ever forget that we need to set our sights on competitiveness in our system. Continuity is of utmost importance now.

> Considering that there is the teaching of mother tongue in primary schools and Bahasa Malaysia in secondary and English at pre-university, don’t you think there is no continuity?

> I did raise my concern immediately after the announcement was made; but having said that, I have to make my stand clear.

As MCA president, I did mention on a few occasions that as far as elementary or primary schools are concerned, we do understand the difficulties or challenges that are now confronting school administrators and even the Education Ministry.

For instance, Chinese primary schools, or for that matter Sekolah Kebangsaan or national schools, were then facing the same problem – an acute shortage of well-trained Science and Maths teachers who were trained in English.

They couldn’t simply rely on literal translation word by word. How could you do that?

More so when you were to use Science and Maths textbooks in English but you choose to deliver your lectures or conduct the class in Bahasa or sometimes in other languages. That is going to court trouble because at the end of the day, the students may be easily confused.

But in the case of Chinese primary schools, their problems are quite unique in the sense that the SJKCs were then given the liberty and latitude to conduct Science and Maths in both English and Mandarin.

But again, the children may get bored because after having attended the class in Mandarin, they have to learn the same subject in English.

You learn the same stuff and you have to repeat another session in English. Exactly the same stuff, sometimes with the same teachers, the same faces – that is going to create boredom in the classroom.

>One of the main concerns is at the primary school level and even at secondary school level – that the decline of English has been quite horrific. The Government has talked about it and given assurances that they want to arrest the continued deterioration of English. What is your view on this?

> I think it is timely to take some drastic measures. And I for one have, since those days, made my stand very clear, even at the height of the public debate on the teaching of Science and Maths in English.

The teaching of Science and Maths in English to me in a way could only help us to improve our grasp of technical English. It doesn’t help enhance our competitiveness as far as the mastery of English is concerned and we need to consider seriously ways and means to bring back English literature to our curiculum, be it in the form of abridged versions or contemporary English literature.

This would certainly help. Now, it is no longer a secret that our younger generation, including some of our undergraduates, have been trained in such a module that they don’t need to study grammar.

Grammar is something alien to them. And what they study or have been studying thus far is mainly confined to what you call communication English.

> There is a perception that reversing to Bahasa Malaysia is a political decision and at the same time, there is a perception that some of our leaders are out of touch.

> Well, I am more concerned about the problem of continuity since I first learnt that we were going to revert to Bahasa for both primary and secondary schools.

The first question that came to my mind was: what are we going to do with the present cohort (studying Maths and Science in English)? This is because we could end up with a scenario where certain students might have to learn Science and Maths in English and later on switch to Bahasa and perhaps at the higher level, back to English. How are they going to adapt to such changes?

This is what I have been voicing to my Cabinet colleagues and even within my party. And I think we need to address this urgently because in the past few days, I do understand the public, especially parents, have been voicing their concerns through all ways and means. Perhaps your hotlines might be flooded with such calls.

> Will you push for Maths and Science in English at secondary level?

> In fact, I have been voicing that even in Cabinet. And as I put it earlier, I will pursue it and at the same time reach out to the social groups or educationists, including the Chinese educationist group as well as the parents because we need to handle this evenhandedly. And let us be more rational and more concerned about the future, the competitiveness of our kids as well as the necessary link or continuity in the teaching of Science and Maths.

> How much support can you expect to generate?

> I need to do quite a bit of lobbying and sometimes you must understand that one man’s meat is always another man’s poison. We cannot convince all and at the end of the day, we still need to cross the bridge.

The tri-lingual Ong Tee Keat

Listening to the radio, listening to music and reading books with a dictionary within reach was how the MCA president became proficient in Chinese, Malay and English.

> You are very proficient in Bahasa, Chinese and English. How did you do it? Can you share with us your experiences in learning three languages and becoming proficient?

> Learning languages is, of course, no easy task. And I would say from my personal experience and that of many others, it is burdensome but at the same time a necessity to enhance our competitiveness.

In my case, I was brought up in the heart of the city, in the downtown area, the so-called Chinatown. And being a minority within the Chinese community, I had no choice but to learn other languages, other dialects to communicate with others. Otherwise, I would have been marginalised by my peers, especially those days in school because you needed to speak the same language.

Because of that, I can see the difficulties our children have to go through when it comes to learning multiple languages, for instance English, Mandarin and Bahasa. Even being Chinese-educated during my early years, I had to struggle to learn the Chinese language, both the written as well as the spoken Mandarin.

And the spoken Mandarin is different from my own dialect Hainanese, a world of difference. Whereas for written Chinese language, you know each and every character is unique by itself and you need to learn them the hard way.

But to me, I was disadvantaged because in my own family, none spoke Mandarin or English, let alone Bahasa.

Perhaps the only possibility of bumping into a Malay Malaysian at that point of time was with none other than a mata mata (constable).

So I chose to learn from television and radio. Radio and TV those days were the only available entertainment to people like me.

And I took the opportunity to learn Bahasa through radio and TV programmes, word by word and even the intonation, the accent.

Nobody could guide me because we simply did not have that kind of environment.

As for English, that came to me later because I started my first English lesson at the age of nine or Standard Three in a Chinese primary school.

And again, like many others who were Chinese-educated, I needed to bring along a dictionary and I took the trouble to jot down every word coming my way. Sometimes, in hindsight, I would laugh at what I did, as this is the most primitive way to learn the language.

I tried to build up my vocabulary, word by word literally. And sometimes, we still cannot find the satisfaction in that.

Many a time, Chinese-educated individuals tend to develop the habit of memorising some of the words from the dictionary. But for me, I don’t think that could ever work well.

Elvis and books

Learning English with a touch of romance, Ong shares the name of his favourite singer and love songs.

> Were there any movies, songs, books or writers that inspired you to learn English?

> Oh, yes, of course. Those days I must admit I was a great fan of Elvis Presley.

> What’s your favourite song?

> Love Me Tender and even till today, Are You Lonesome Tonight?

> So you are quite a romantic figure.

> Well, I am but many a time, people look at me from a different angle. They think that politicians are stone-faced and very regimented and no nonsense and so forth.

But coming back to your question, well, I love novels. I first developed my strong interest in novels through reading. Reading sometimes was not sufficient because sometimes I could not understand the phrases; the phraseology might be too difficult for me to digest.

Then I opted for the abridged version and at the same time, there was another remedial measure – I could find the translated works in Chinese.

And later on, I developed the habit of reading the bilingual section in the Reader’s Digest. That is how I first developed my interest in reading English literature.

> How old were you then?

> That was during my boyhood days from the age of 14. I produced my first short story at the age of 16 in Chinese; it was published by a Hong Kong-based literary magazine.

> What was it about?

> It was about a banquet, how a down-trodden guy made an effort to attend the banquet which was well attended by VVIPs and dignitaries. Later on, he finds out that the effort was all in vain. He simply could not find a comfortable place in the midst of all the dignitaries or celebrities. And he opted out.

Support for merit scholarships.

The issue of the JPA scholarship has been a thorny one but one which Ong feels is important to resolve so as to accommodate all high achievers.

Q: Datuk Seri, at the MCA dinner organised to celebrate the Prime Minister’s appointment last month, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced a scholarship programme that is based on merit. Could you please shed some light on this?

A. Over the past few years, non-Malay parents by large have been trying all ways and means to ensure that their own children who manage to achieve SPM results with flying colours are given a chance to pursue further studies abroad under the JPA scholarship scheme.

But unfortunately, we can’t satisfy all quarters and I need to tell you that in the past seven or eight years when I first took over the Youth chairmanship, this was one of the key issues that I brought up.

From then on, we embarked on a series of talks, and true enough this was the feeling of Chinese and Indian parents.

We could see how competitive it was when it came to the application for JPA scholarships but at the same time, we need to acknowledge that there were some constraints in the sense of only those students whose parents were categorised as low-income earner – as low below RM1,500 per month – qualified as applicants.

This also turned away a lot of brilliant students, especially those from middle-class families. This became a perennial problem as it was one that we had to deal with every year.

We needed to address this problem and this was when I brought up the issue of merit.

We need to have a specific category purely based on merit to accommodate the high achievers. I was delighted to learn, earlier this year, that this was one of the four categories endorsed by the Cabinet for the JPA scholarship scheme.

Later on, our Prime Minister was again kind enough to make such an announcement, especially at the banquet hosted by MCA and the community in conjunction with his appointment as the sixth Prime Minister.

He announced not only the creation of such a category but also named it National Scholarship and that it was to be based purely on merit.

Grassroots to decide

Last week, it was announced that the MCA was ready to have direct elections for the party president’s post from the branch level. Ong explained its rationale.

> Datuk Seri, you are known as a fighter and reformist. One of the things you plan is to have a direct presidential election and I believe it is being put together. Can you please share with us the reason?

> I meant what I said and certainly it is my habit to walk the talk but it is always easier said than done when you come to learn that you need to cross so many hurdles.

Hurdles not because of resistance from any quarters but hurdles that were there simply because of our existing membership that we certainly need to revisit.

Over the years, we have been going through a series of changes in terms of leadership as well as changes in our membership demographic profile.

And now I am glad to tell you after several months of hard work, especially by the organising secretariat, we have managed to trim down the bloated membership.

When I say bloated membership, please don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean to say the phantoms because people might misconstrue that as something you deliberately create from nothing.

There might be isolated cases no doubt but when I say bloated membership, I am referring to those members who have passed away or perhaps in the early days of registration, many of them did not furnish sufficient information and all this would make our work challenging.

> What are the numbers that have been reduced?

> Currently, I was told they managed to trim down from 1.08 million to current figures of slightly more than 900,000 members. And I wouldn’t be surprised that this is going to take quite a while because of the nitty-gritty we have to tidy up. But it is done for good reasons.

It is not a “cleansing” of the party as may be misconstrued by some people. Actually, far from it. There is no such necessity to “cleanse the party”.

> Datuk Seri, can you please elaborate about the grassroots voting. Have you decided the mechanics of it?

> Yes, but actually the organising secretariat, they have done a fair bit of groundwork and homework. When they were doing this, they also reached out to the grassroots.

I want them to reach out to the grassroots because there is no point for you to trim down the membership based on the perception in an air-conditioned room.

Although they managed to reach out to the grassroots, I think it is not sufficient because ultimately I want to see some of the party initiatives made known to the public as well.

If you want people to believe that you are genuinely on the path of transformation, then you have to do it.

At the same time, make the people understand what you are doing. I think that is crucial.

> We can presume it is not going to be 900,000 MCA members going to the ballot box?

> Well, I think even in the biggest democracy in the world, you couldn’t.

> Would it be a caucus type voting?

> I would say we are not in the position to deny the voting rights of any valid member. But having said that, at the end of the day, we just want to see that every valid member has his say, you know, in determining the choice of president.

Calling a spade a spade – PKFZ

In the past couple of months, Ong’s name has been closely associated with one acronym – PKFZ (Port Klang Free Trade Zone). He explains why.

> Datuk Seri, you took up an issue which many people felt was a difficult subject – PKFZ. On top of that, powerful personalities have been disturbed and upset because of this. How have you coped with all this pressure and how do you intend to continue handling this issue?

> Well, honestly, among my friends and other well-wishers, many were quite worried then that I might have sleepless nights. But I can tell you that I can sleep soundly despite the fact that I had literally disturbed the hornet’s nest.

And at the same time, let me put it clear to you, when I chose to conduct such an audit, I did it with good intention; I did not do it with any ulterior motive, not for my personal gain nor any political motives aimed at disturbing others.

But to me, I know very well the PKFZ issue is no ordinary issue and this involved a hefty sum of money, in particular loans from the Government, and everyone knows the loan of the Government in fact comes from the people, from the nation’s coffers. And this is the people’s money, the taxpayers’ money.

When I put my foot down to have such an independent audit conducted – it is to find proof. It is not that we want to do anything that is politically motivated but, unfortunately, there are certain individuals and quarters who might have taken that in the wrong way.

I know I have been branded as maverick or a fighter, and sometimes people think that I don’t toe the line. I don’t think this is fair to me, it is just that I’d rather call a spade a spade.

At the end of the day, let us see that the truth prevails.

What is there to fear if we are innocent? This is the question I would like to pose and I said it loud and clear at the release of the report that we are not going to stop at that point.

The release of that report is just beginning and ultimately we would like to turn it around as the PKFZ is not just a Government project but also involves the people’s interest.

Let us turn it around by revisiting some of the weaknesses and perhaps some of the mistakes made and we must be bold enough to turn it around with the help of professionals and with the required expertise.

I am certainly cautiously optimistic in doing so. Honestly, I don’t know how bad or how soon I am going to face political backlash (for commissioning the report) if there is any at all.

> Have you had any undue pressure from other Barisan partners?

> When we talk about pressure, this is again based on perception and I could see that it is no easy task.

On one hand, I need to face the public, the Parliament and also the unethical repeated spinning of certain quarters or individuals aimed at implicating me.

They tend to forget or they choose to deliberately forget that I am the one who commissioned such an independent audit. Instead, they try to implicate me simply because I am now the president of MCA.

To me, we might be political adversaries but it doesn’t mean we should fabricate lies to smear people. I don’t think that is ethical.