Ridhuan Tee Called MCA 'Biawak Hidup', He Was Their Member For 15 Years

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Mohd Ridhuan Tee Abdullah has spent the past week telling MCA exactly what is wrong with Chinese Malaysians — and he would know, because until 2016, he was one of their own.

The controversial Chinese-Muslim preacher registered as a lifetime MCA member on 18 December 2000.

He stayed on the books for over 15 years.

His membership was so unremarkable that when he eventually disclosed it publicly in 2016, several senior MCA leaders said they had no idea he was even registered.

This past week, Tee described MCA as biawak hidup — a Malay idiom for a useless burden others are forced to carry — and pointed out that the party contests and wins only one or two parliamentary seats, surviving entirely on Malay voter support.

Without Malay votes propping them up in coalition arrangements, he said, MCA would win nothing.

The party he is now calling a liability to its Malay partners is the same party that once had his name on its membership list.

MCA Told Him to Leave, He Had Already Left, Years Ago

The dispute began after Tee, born Tee Chuan Seng, drew criticism for comments about government leaders attending the funeral of Tun Dr Hasmah Mohd Ali.

MCA Youth Deputy Chairman Mike Chong Yew Chuan responded by calling him out for inciting racial and religious division, and suggested that anyone unable to accept Malaysia’s multicultural identity should consider renouncing citizenship.

Tee’s retaliation went further than electoral arithmetic.

He named blogger Helen Ang as a better example of what MCA leadership should aspire to be — an individual with no elected mandate, no community accountability, and no constituency beyond her blog.

He paired her name with academics Prof Teo Kok Seong and the late Prof Khoo Kay Kim, all figures known for positions broadly aligned with the Malay-centric national narrative.

His argument, distilled: the only Chinese Malaysians worth holding up are the ones who agree with him.

On His Way Out, He Called Them the Extremists

Tee, who is also the Deputy President of Muafakat Nasional (MN) – a heavily pro-Perikatan Nasional (PN) non-governmental organisation (NGO) – did not leave MCA over its record on Chinese rights.

He resigned in May 2016 because MCA opposed PAS President Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang’s private member’s bill to expand Syariah criminal jurisdiction — RUU355.

On his way out, he published a column declaring that MCA, MIC and Gerakan were “more ultra than the ultra kiasu” for opposing Islamic law.

MCA Youth chief at that time, Datuk Chong Sin Woon, fired back at a press conference, flipping the label entirely: Tee, he said, was the one who was truly ultra kiasu — an extremist who branded anyone who disagreed with him as an enemy.

MCA said his departure was a relief.

The man now lecturing MCA on Chinese identity did not leave over identity. He left over hudud.

And on the way out, he called them extremists — for opposing it.

READ MORE: MCA’s Own Ex-Member Ridhuan Tee Told To Leave Malaysia By — MCA

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