Although I'm a MCA member(surprise!), I'm not actively involved because of my work(my membership is from Penang). Personally, I never like the idea of Chua serving as the health minister back then. Not that he's lousy or something, but he's a LAWYER by profession. It's like asking a carpenter to be the head chef for your restaurant- how can like dat?
However, I do like the way the former health minister carry himself- gaya, mutu, keunggulan. He's got it all compare to a lot of other chinese politicians. Even though I don't speak bahasa well, I always like my non-Malay politicians to sound good in bahasa. The former deputy president of MCA Dato' Lim Ah Lek is superb in this department while Tun Ling Liong Sik is not bad as well. As for the current batch, Chua is among the rare breed who are good at it. Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting and Datuk Seri Chan kong Choy still speak with the usual "cina pek" slang.
The biggest jokers in terms of their command of bahasa have to be Datuk Seri Lim Keng Yaik and Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu. Not that I want to make fun of their accent, but being politicians for such a long time, would it hurt to take up some bahasa lisan lessons? Tan Sri Dr. Ting Chew Peh, on the other hand, has a relatively good command of the national language... unfortunately his voice reminds me too much of Kermit the Frog.
Ok, back to Datuk Chua. From the way the state MCA leaders are responding, it doesn't look quite promising for the 61-yr-old man to make it to the top. I do hope he succeeds and fulfills at least 50% of what he promised in his manifesto.
