The bitter squabble between the past and present MCA presidents threatens to derail party's effort to win back Chinese support for the Barisan Nasional.
PETALING JAYA: While the Barisan Nasional and Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak have been going into overdrive to woo the hearts and minds of voters, especially Chinese and Indians, the MCA’s input to the effort is suspect.
MCA, the BN’s largest Chinese-based component party, instead of putting its shoulders to the wheel to help win back Chinese voters, is in a mess because of personality clashes.
The current spat between MCA titans, past president Ong Tee Keat and and current party supremo Dr Chua Soi Lek is diverting attention of not only its leaders but also its members.
Only 30% to 35% of the Chinese community, pollsters reveal, support the BN while the rest are steadfastly behind the opposition, mainly the DAP.
Najib even attended the United Chinese School Committee or Dong Zong’s Chinese New Year open house celebration last month in Kajang, Selangor, to help boost support for BN.
It was the first time that a prime minister had attended the vocal Chinese educationist group’s function, but his efforts are being eclipsed by Ong and Chua’s ongoing public spat.
Chua neither denied nor admitted speculations that he would quit the party president’s post in the event Ong, the incumbent Pandan MP, is fielded to contest again.
“I do not say it is not true. I do not say it is true, because communication between the prime minister and I has to be respected.
“All discussions with the prime minister are always regarded as information, between him and I, and is not for public consumption,” Chua was quoted as saying.
Media reports indicate that the MCA president is bent on finishing off Ong’s political life.
Last month, on Feb 21, he announced lawyer Gary Lim as MCA’s candidate for Pandan during the division’s Chinese New Year celebration.
Chua claimed that the Pandan division had given its endorsement for Gary Lim to contest the parliamentary seat in the 13th general election.
Chinese divided
Ong shot back, saying that he was still BN’s candidate and that the final say rests with Najib. He also told the media that he was willing to defend Pandan as BN’s direct candidate.
Soon after, Pandan MCA Youth chief Chong Sin Won said the division had not decided who it would back. Present by his side were the division’s 11 out of 14 executive council members.
The bad blood between both these personalities stems from a series of developments after Ong became MCA president in October 2008 and Chua, the deputy president.
Despite being the deputy, Chua was only the party’s government policy monitoring bureau chief. Then came the DVD of Chua having sex with a woman at a hotel in Johor.
The scandal forced Chua to relinquish all positions in the party and government. He was the health minister then.
He, however, made a strong comeback in 2010 and triumphed in a three-cornered battle with Ong and former president Ong Ka Ting for the top post.
Chua polled 901 votes, compared to Ka Ting (833 votes) and Tee Keat (578).
Since then, Chua has been trying to unite the Chinese community which was divided between DAP and MCA.
The Chinese electorate’s support for Pakatan Rakyat appears to be unwavering and MCA seems to have lost ground and the ongoing feud is definitely not helping.
An Umno leader, who wished to remain anonymous, admitted that Umno, being the backbone of the BN, is worried of MCA’s chances in Chinese-majority seats.
“Chances for MCA to win in a mixed seat is higher than a Chinese-majority seat,” said the Umno leader.
Observers believe Chua and Ong must realise that they need MCA to survive this election because their positions in the party would be worthless if MCA performs dismally again.
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