I wish to respond to your letter which was posted on the Malaysiakini website where you made several allegations against me with regards to my conduct and which has defamed me as a blind individual. However, first of all, allow me to thank you most kindly for having been a fan of mine since your childhood days. I am certainly touched and honoured to hear this. I have also no doubt whatsoever that you must have attended many of my performances together with Mr. David Chew; hence your knowledge of the kind of music that I specialize in. Since you are such a big fan of mine, I wonder if you remember how many albums I have released so far, and what are some of the songs which I have recorded without having to crack your head over this. Mr. Chong, as a huge fan of mine, it is rather unfortunate that you have decided to keep it to yourself and have chosen only now to divulge your long kept secret at this point and time. Since you claim to be an ardent fan of mine, how is it that you failed to recognize me when I came to your office for assistance & even treated both me & my wife as non-entities. At the same time, it baffles me as to why I have not performed at any MCA functions, in spite of the fact that you know about my capabilities. Understandably, your hands may be tied in this respect when it comes to the hiring of artists for your many functions as it is your superiors who call the shots. Anyway, not all is lost as the MCA being part of the ruling party has another 4 years to rule the country and now that you have announced to the whole wide world about my talents via Malaysiakini, my prospects might just be alittle bit brighter. Once again, my grateful thanks for your very kind consideration with regards to my plight. Before I proceed any further, I hope that you won't find the rest of this letter too offensive, as I feel strongly that I should speak my mind in answering your allegations even at the risk of losing a devoted fan such as your goodself.
Mr. Chong, it is most unfortunate that to save your own reputation and that of the MCA, you have chosen to give a false account of what took place between me and yourself at your office on the 11th of August. You stated in your letter that the MCA complaints bureau does not practice queue jumping, and as good citizens, each and every client has to wait his or her turn to have their problems looked into by your kind self. Mr. Chong, are you seriously trying to tell me and the public at large that a ruling made by the government where disabled and elderly citizens be given priority when being served at public counters such as the immigration department and government hospitals is unfair and therefore should not have been implemented in the first place? How is it that the MCA being part of the barisan national have such different views from
that of the government? Did our people-friendly government forget to consult one of it's partners namely the MCA before formulating this policy? On behalf of the disabled community, I wish to thank the government for having formulated such a wonderful policy, as it goes a long way in helping both the disabled and senior citizens, so that they do not have to wait for long hours to complete their transactions or to have their medical ailments attended to. Subsequently, in your letter, you accused me of attacking your top officials which you found most objectionable and unacceptable. Do these officials not realize that it is the raakyat who has been instrumental in giving them such powerful positions in government but having got what they wanted, they have forgotten about their promises to serve the people with dignity and therefore feel that they can ride roughshod over their subjects? Haven't they heard of the saying that powerful positions come together with heavy responsibilities? Should these top MCA officials choose to stay in their ivory towers and continue to ignore the needs of the less fortunate, I fear that the MCA may be voted out of office during the next general elections. It is my hope that these officials come to their senses and show more compassion towards the less fortunate and the lower strata of society. It is most regretful that even having written to Messrs Ong Ka Ting and Chan Kong Choy, the former being president and the latter being vice
president and disciplinary chairman of MCA respectively I have yet to receive replies from the two above mentioned people. It therefore sets me wondering if it is the policy of MCA officials to disregard letters sent in to them by members of the public requesting for assistance in solving their problems. If this is the case, I certainly think that this is a sad state of affairs & that it's time they change their attitude. I seriously wonder as to how many MCA officials have good track records when it comes to serving the public.
To continue, I wish to take you to task with regards to several allegations which you have made against me pertaining to my employment status with RTM. First of all, you accused me of not being able to get along well with my ex-colleagues. For your information, during my short stint with radio 4, I have had no opportunities of meeting up with my ex-colleagues whatsoever, as due to the discrimination practiced by the controller of Radio 4 that is Puan Rohani, all my programmes had to be pre-recorded, whilst all the other DJs did their programmes "live" in the studio. I put it to you, how then could I not get along with my ex-colleagues when I did not even have the opportunity to meet up with them, let alone socializing with them.
Next, I think that it is most irresponsible of you in your capacity as MCA complaints bureau chief in fanning the flames of hatred, by bringing up racial issues in saying that I accused the staff at RTM of being racialistic. I remember only complaining to you with regards to the discriminatory attitude that Puan Rohani of Radio 4 adopted towards me as a blind person & at no time did I complain about her racial feelings at all. I wish here to categorically deny your allegations in the strongest possible terms and I personally think that both you and your informants are bankrupt of ideas when trying to run me down as a blind individual. In my opinion, all this mud-slinging is most uncalled for, and as a top official in the MCA complaints bureau, you have brought shame and disrepute upon the MCA party. Mr. Chong, in your letter, you stated that you treated me and my wife with the greatest respect, although you claimed that I had attacked several of your top officials verbally which you thought was unbecoming of me. However, I remember clearly only relating the bad experiences which I had encountered with these officials and not attacking them as you claimed in your letter. From my observations, the MCA complaints bureau only chooses to handle high profile cases, so that it can get good write-ups in the press to impress the public and at the same time help the party to gain political mileage.
Finally, Mr. Chong, if my rebuttals to your allegations has provoked you and your top officials, may I suggest that you allow me to have a public debate with you on a one to one basis at a place and time of your choice, so that the public can judge for themselves as to who is telling the truth. It is my sincere hope that you will react positively to my suggestion, for should I be judged to be the guilty party, then you would certainly get a boost from your TV series and be vindicated. Looking forward to your early reply and thanking you in anticipation.
Yours faithfully,
Alfred Ho.
NOTE : NO RESPONSE FROM MICHAEL CHONG
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