More than 2,000 central delegates of MCA will cast their votes for the party's new leadership in two days' time.

I was thinking, how are they going to decide where their votes should go to?

- based on party factions or camps
- based on the candidates' image and capability
- based on the candidates' political views
- don't know how to vote, and don't know why they have to vote.

Indeed, MCA is right at the bottom of the valley now.

I'm not just referring to the humiliating defeat in the March general elections.

If only because the parliamentary seats have been halved, it shouldn't have been so tacky and pessimistic, as the party has seen cycles of ups and downs over the past decades. This is not the first time MCA has done so badly, and certainly won't be the last time as well.

Moreover, the party has not done that badly after all, bagging 15 parliamentary and 32 state seats--far from the doomsday scenario (PKR managed only a single seat in 2004, but emerging as the largest opposition party and the second largest party in terms of parliamentary seats four years later.)

What I'm worried is, as a political party, MCA is slowly slipping into a hollowing crisis, that is, being uncertain of its raison d'être, for whom it has been in existence, and not knowing how to sustain its mere existence.

To a political party, nothing can rush MCA towards its demise faster than this crisis, not even the loss of half of its parliamentary seats.

This crisis has taken shape because MCA has not amassed enough of sensitivity and capability to respond to changes in the face of a rapidly changing Malaysian society, in particular the Chinese community.

The Chinese community today is different from what MCA has thought it to be.

An overwhelming majority of Chinese Malaysians no longer live in new villages, and they don't work as rubber tappers, factory workers, or grocery shop owners. They are not watching the one and only TV station in the country, and their furthest destinations are not just Hat Yai or Singapore.

There are more and more Chinese Malaysians who are degree holders, middle class and professionals. They read the newspaper in the morning, surfing the net at noon, watching TV news in the evening, and flipping evening edition of newspaper at night. They make several oversea trips each year, have seen how democracy works in the US and UK, and witnessed the wrestle between Ma Ying-jeou and Chen Shui-bian in the opening up society of Taiwan.

In line with their higher education and living standards, their expectations for life have also soared, as their value system and mentality are beginning to shift.

While they are living here in Malaysia, their scope of vision has far transcended the geographical borders. They are no longer residents of new villages, but the Global Village.

This is what we call social transformation.

They don't bother how many Chinese primary schools are being built, but question why there are not enough of schools. They don't just get down on the 30% bumiputra quotas, they are demanding full deregulation, improved competitiveness and higher growth. They don't care about colour or faith, but are pursuing hard equality and justice.

The shift in mentality is quietly taking shape, while the value system is dramatically transformed.

MCA is, meanwhile, still stalled at its "MCA representing the Chinese," and "defending the rights of Chinese" slogans. The slowly metamorphosing society no longer looks to ethnic interests as its sole requisition.

Just as MCA stresses the importance of its presence as long as UMNO is in existence, UMNO's power base is, in reality, being eroded to an unprecedented extent. It is a matter of time that UMNO or MCA may not come to each other's rescue one day.

When the past is no longer in existence, and when the society is slowly going through a decisive transformation, this is the time for the original power base of MCA to get drained off and hollowed.

The Malaysian politics has now come to a crucial watershed. Beneath MCA's feet is the hostile, roaring waters.

The mission of MCA's more than 2,000 central delegates right now, is to strive to erect a bridge spanning across the hostile waters.

They must elect truly aspiring, far-sighted and ambitious leaders, who have a vision and capability to bring about the reforms, and who will lead the party through the establishment of a brand new political philosophy while shaping a progressive political culture that will hasten the rebirth of MCA. (By TAY TIAN YAN/Translated by DOMINIC LOH/Sin Chew Daily)