MCA central committee member Ti Lian Ker's accusation that the Chinese media "had fanned up speculations" to remove the party president ("Ti blames it on biased reporting by Chinese media," Nov 18) unfairly emphasises the role of the media as a shaper, rather than a mirror, of public opinion.

The Sin Chew Group's readers surely aren't cattle to be led by the nose, but this is precisely what we must conclude should we admit the idea that the Group is capable of manipulating its readers to affect political outcomes at the highest level without any impact on its circulation.

It is also unclear from your report how exactly that impact is supposed to take place if the media is not, as Ti has observed, "directly involved in the political arena" -- MCA delegates who are able to affect party politics can easily choose to disagree with whatever contrary editorial stand the Group might take, or perhaps put forward a better argument, and there the matter will rest.

In this regard I draw your attention to the fact that the media, however powerful it might be, cannot fan a fire that does not already exist; and surely in this instance it was the party president himself who struck the match by promising to resign should he have lost the vote of confidence at the MCA's Oct 10 extraordinary general meeting.

Also, I cannot see how Rita Sim's resignation as deputy chairman of the Institute of Strategic Analysis and Policy Research should impugn her observation that the Chinese Malaysian community might avail themselves of other channels besides formal politics, nor how this observation translates into "a great injustice to the MCA," as your report says.

If it is reasonable to think that the community should look no further than the party to have all its needs met, then the fact that the community might (or perhaps already does) look elsewhere must tell the MCA something.

By U-En Ng
Kuala Lumpur

(This is a reader's letter directed to The Star and forwarded to Sin Chew Daily.)