Has MCA changed enough to regain Chinese support?

Alan Ting

Sunday, 30 May 2010 13:40

ANALYSIS The MCA, the second largest Barisan Nasional (BN) component party, is striving to revamp its previous conservative image: it wants to adopt a bolder approach to win the hearts and minds of the Chinese Malaysian community.

There are enough reasons for this change. The Hulu Selangor by-election results, which showed that the Chinese support for the BN had continued to decline, is one of them.

Another is the Sibu parliamentary by-election in Sarawak.

Although the MCA has no presence in Sarawak, the Sibu by-election results has again sent a distress signal that the declining Chinese support was not confined to Peninsula Malaysia alone.

Barely a week after the Sibu by-election, the MCA unveiled its new approach by announcing a 100-page memorandum to the Prime Minister and Barisan Nasional chairman, Najib Abdul Razak, for the 10th Malaysia Plan where the party requested RM1 billion to support the Chinese vernacular education.

Too conservative

Explaining the changes, MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek said the MCA had long been too conservative, thus giving the wrong impression that the party "does not dare to speak out".

As such, he said, opposition parties had successfully "built an image" for the MCA as "a party that doesn't understand the Chinese community" and "is even disconnected from the community."

"So I've decided to take a different approach. I think we should say everything that should be said. As for whether we succeed in negotiations, let the government leadership decide," he said.

MCA Central Committee (CC) member Loh Seng Kok viewed this approach as making it known to the public on what the party wants to do.

It has to be more informative to the people instead of having a low profile as in the past, he said.

"For a long time, MCA's practice in negotiations and discussions related to issues and policies affecting the Chinese community was doing it behind closed doors.

"Due to this approach, the people think MCA is not working or championing their issues," he said, adding this approach had dealt a severe blow to MCA as most people thought that the party was always agreeing to policies implemented by the government even though the people were not happy about it.

However, some also argued that by merely presenting their demands and asking for more allocations would not work anymore as the Chinese were known to be more dynamic in their thinking and needs.

But as Loh said, "At least, the political scene will be vibrant."

"All parties have to accept the people's view. There must be a platform for all political parties to make their stand and opinions. Let those opinions be evaluated by the people," he said.

Another CC member, Chong It Chew, said the new MCA leadership was firm enough to tackle long-standing issues.

These include education, a matter which is close to the hearts of the Chinese community, and MCA had now directly asked the government to increase allocations to Chinese schools from about four per cent to 20 per cent under the 10th Malaysia Plan, he said.

Besides that, the MCA is also asking the government to recognise the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) by Chinese independent schools.

Merely changing strategies

"These two issues have been going on for some time. We want to let the Chinese community know that we are doing something. We don't want to wait until it is approved, only then we announce it," he said.

However, for some political analysts, what MCA is doing is merely changing its strategies and not amounted to fundamental changes on principles and struggles.

Fundamental changes, they said, are important in regaining support from the people.

"What I see now is that the MCA under Dr Chua's leadership is building up a new image for the party, mostly by making changes to its strategy. I did not see any changes to the party's principles," political analyst Cheah See Kian asked.

Merely making changes to its strategy and "behaving like the opposition" would not help the party regain much support, he said.

"They just can't be like the opposition, like being vocal and demanding this and that. The people will ask, 'you are also the government and why can't you resolve the issues and help the community?'

"Besides that, I see some other BN components, particulary Umno having already changed. They have broadened their voting processes and have come up with more direct approaches, including reaching out to other communities," he said.

However, Cheah alleged that the people had not seen MCA, Gerakan or MIC or even SUPP changing.

Another political analyst, Khoo Kay Peng, said the MCA should do more than just submitting a memorandum to the prime minister because such an action was outdated.

"MCA should walk the talk. They should learn to bite and not just bark."