The Malaysian Insight

THE MCA elections will indicate clearly whether or not members want the party to remain in the Barisan Nasional coalition, said presidential candidate, Gan Ping Sieu.

Gan, who leads the call for the party to strike out on its own after its humiliating defeat in the 14th general election, said the MCA was like “an old woman attached to an ugly man”.

Gan, along with his running mate Tee Siew Keong, will face deputy president Wee Ka Siong and Perak outsider Ngoo Teck Keong in the coming party elections.

“If members want to rebuild, they should pick the Gan and Tee team, while if you want to rely on Umno for survival, support Dr Wee Ka Siong,” Gan told The Malaysian Insight.

Apart from Wee, all the other contenders for the top two posts are not elected lawmakers.

Gan said his team is advocating reform and reconstruction while the Wee-Mah team is about revival.

“If MCA wants to rebuild, it must leave BN. When MCA gets 30%-40% of voter support, it need not worry about finding new political partners,” said Gan, who has promised to hold a referendum about MCA’s future if he wins.

“Currently, we have no good partners.”

Apart from that, Gan said the MCA leadership, under president Liow Tiong Lai, had been silent on past controversial issues within the BN administration, and this had disappointed the party grassroots.

“If MCA stays in BN, it will die,” said Gan.

“Only by leaving BN can MCA create a new party for itself.”

Gan said Wee’s stance of “wait-and-see” in the case of leaving or staying in BN was symptomatic of his leadership style.

Following MCA’s disastrous GE14 results, where it only managed to retain one out of 39 parliamentary, and two out of 90 state seats contested, members are confused about the party’s directions, said Gan.

MCA had grown complacent in recent years, leaving BN’s lynchpin party Umno to make decisions and drive the direction of the party and the country, he said.

“MCA, in its present state, has no value for Umno. For a long time, BN has revolved around one party only and MCA fell into a comfort zone.”

“It became passive and left the decision-making in BN. The component parties were also not respected in the decision-making process and mechanisms were problematic,” said the former deputy minister.

A new MCA?

Gan said MCA should continue to be rooted in Chinese issues but to be more moderate, secular and pluralistic.

Umno’s decision to explore political cooperation with PAS was proof that the BN coalition has lost its core values, he said.

“When Umno and PAS work together, MCA has no reason to cooperate with Umno. This will not be accepted by the Sabah and Sarawak parties either.

“As such, we can’t understand why Wee is willing to join BN’s shadow cabinet and why it accepted support from PAS in the Balakong by-election.”

Although, Gan acknowledged Wee’s leadership strengths, the latter cannot take the party forward.

“Wee’s remarks may be very good but the public do not accept it because of his personal integrity,” said Gan.

Some 33,000 delegates from 189 MCA divisions will vote for their choice of leaders this weekend. – October 30, 2018.