The Malaysian Insight

THE MCA elections this weekend are spurring little excitement among party delegates now that the ethnic Chinese Barisan Nasional component is no longer in power and has little to offer its members, a party insider said.

Members are feeling demotivated following MCA’s defeat in the 14th general election, where it only managed to retain one parliamentary seat and lost the 38 others it contested.

No longer in the federal government, members feel that whoever wins the party polls, they all do not have the means to offer political appointments in the civil service, in government-linked companies, local councils or even village committee appointments, the party insider said.

“It’s a bad thing (to go after positions), but when MCA was a ruling party, those at the top can reward those who supported them with such appointments. Now that MCA is an opposition party, all those benefits are gone, so why would the grassroots put in so much effort?” he said.

After Pakatan Harapan took power, about 17,000 political appointees were terminated, including those from MCA.

The party elections this weekend will start with the Youth wing on Saturday and for national office bearers on Sunday. The Wanita or women’s wing is not seeing a contest after candidates filed their nominations without any contenders.

The party’s presidency is a three-cornered fight between current deputy president and Ayer Hitam MP Wee Ka Siong, vice-president Gan Ping Sieu and Beruas MCA Youth chief Ngoo Teck Keong.

The deputy presidency is contested by Tee Siew Keong, who is backed by Gan, and Mah Hang Soon who is Wee’s running mate.

The Gan-Tee team and the Wee-Mah team are the main rivals and both sides are keeping their cards close to their chests by delaying the announcement of their 4 vice-president candidates, respectively.

Wee is the “obvious and logical choice” to succeed outgoing president Liow Tiong Lai, the party source said.

However, Wee, who was Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in Najib Razak’s cabinet, carries the baggage of the previous administration.

He also carries the inertia of the previous establishment at a time when party members are looking for leadership to chart a fresh path for MCA.

“Since nomination day, there are many among the grassroots who want MCA to start from a clean slate again, hoping that MCA can shed its image as a party that is subservient to Umno,” the party insider said.

Gan is the only one who has talked about taking MCA out of BN to start afresh.

The source said grassroots are uncertain if MCA will remain in BN and had lost confidence in the leadership, especially after the Balakong and Sg Kandis by-elections, where MCA and PAS cooperated, causing many among the grassroots to accuse the leadership of inconsistency.

The Wee-Mah and Gan-Tee camps are now campaigning in every state to canvass for votes at gatherings with the MCA grassroots but the party insider said while attendance at such events has been good, he questioned whether people were just filling up seats.

All the while, MCA elections have been decided using the “menu” (cai tan) approach but this time, with neither side having much to offer, the polls will be a referendum on the party’s future.

Both sides are equally worried that turnout will be low.

The polls this year will be the first time the party switches from a central delegates voting system to include all 40,000 delegates from throughout the country. – AFP, October 31, 2018.