The Malaysian Insight

CHINESE support for Barisan Nasional and MCA is still low despite the two parties returning to federal power with Perikatan Nasional, said analysts.

They told The Malaysian Insight the two parties would have seen the return of 20% to 30% of Chinese support to MCA and BN, largely due to the community’s unhappiness with Pakatan Harapan but most are still sticking with the former ruling coalition.

In the five months since MCA re-entered government on March 1, the only party representing Chinese interests seems to be riding on the coattails of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s policies and has nothing to show for itself, they said.

“All the goodwill is from Muhyiddin, I don’t think MCA has achieved anything on its own,” said political commentator Kenneth Cheng.

“MCA now has the platform to show what it can do but the results have not been encouraging.”

Cheng said even MCA president Wee Ka Siong, who is also transport minister, seems to have missed out on an opportunity to be part of the decision-making process in the East Coast Rail-Link (ECRL).

Since the 1990s, the Chinese’s political leanings have been swinging between the ruling and opposition parties.

Wee himself reminded the new government when it wrested power in March that it cannot expect solid Chinese backing as it comes and goes.

Even though MCA wrested back the Tg Piai seat in a by-election last year, Wee said it’s possible that the party will once again be rejected in the 15th general election.

Voters only chose MCA and BN in the by-election as they were frustrated with PH.

“These are protest votes, so it’s too early to say that Chinese support has returned,” Wee reportedly said.

Winning up to 7 seats

International Islamic University Malaysia’s political studies assistant professor Lau Zhe Wei said the Chinese had no choice before but now can choose between MCA and DAP.

“If you didn’t like DAP or (secretary-general) Lim Guan Eng’s policies when they were in government, now you can choose between Perikatan Nasional (PN) and PH,” Liu said.

He said it is natural for voters unhappy with DAP to now support PN after PH was toppled through defections.

Cheng said if snap polls were to be called soon, MCA could win up to seven parliamentary seats by piggybacking on PN’s support.

According to recent media reports, the Umno leadership similarly projected MCA to win between five and eight seats in the event of snap polls.

Cheng said Chinese support for MCA is up by an estimated 10%, which adds up to a total of 20%, but to win over the rest of the community will not be easy.

MCA can only hit the targeted seven seats if it manages to win back its traditional constituencies with mixed racial demographics.

With Bersatu, Umno and PAS at the helm, Cheng said MCA would also have to give up Malay-majority seats to the Malay parties.

According to previous media reports, MCA was initially allocated 30 seats to contest, at least 23 of which clashed with DAP.

However, MCA cannot hope to win in Chinese-majority areas, where it is not known if there are enough voters angry enough with the former PH government to vote the former.

Analysing the results of past general elections from 1955 to 2008, support for MCA generally fluctuates – if its support falls in one general election, it would increase again at the next polls.

As the saying goes, it is easy to anger the Chinese but they were quick to forgive MCA and former BN component Gerakan, giving them another chance yet again.

MCA is now the underdog at the polls and if the party wishes to win big, it needs the full, unreserved support of its allies and focus on issues close to the Chinese community. – August 1, 2020.