In his speech at the party’s 70th annual general meeting last weekend, MCA president Dr Wee Ka Siong had declared that his party was prepared to go on its own way if any party in Barisan Nasional decides to officially form new ties and abandons its current allies in the coalition.
Dr Wee who successfully retained his post as MCA president for the second term with a landslide victory said the party was ready to be “independent” even if it meant starting all over again.
Although he did not specifically mention names, it would appear that in the current context he was referring to Umno; he stressed that most importantly, MCA must insist on being a political party and not a welfare organisation!
According to him, back in 1951, when MCA’s founder Tan Cheng Lock, a prominent local businessman, transformed it from a welfare organisation into a political party, there was significant resistance; it is believed that even from its early days its members were known to be largely business people and property owners - not the working class!
Dr Wee had said that if MCA were to be a welfare organisation, he will not stay on as his view is that MCA is a political party; he seemed adamant to hold on to the conviction of the party's founders.
The MCA president acknowledged that the political landscape experienced a change after the 15th general election (GE15) and this has altered the way the BN’s component parties worked.
Nevertheless, he stressed that MCA must continue to collaborate with individuals across BN’s component parties which shared similar principles to institute reform and restore the coalition’s core values.
Dr Wee, who is also the Ayer Hitam MP said that MCA must plan a strong comeback to return to mainstream politics in the next general election; it was after all one of the pioneer parties involved in the founding of the nation.
However, MCA does seem to be greatly affected and held back by the presence of its "sworn enemy" DAP in the current ruling coalition where Umno is also a vital component party.
While Dr Wee seemed open to collaboration, his deputy Mah Hang Soon had in his speech earlier, ruled out full cooperation with DAP, unless it was willing to “align” with MCA’s principles; he said that MCA has been the target of attacks and smears by DAP for decades and the accumulation of negative sentiments against the party cannot be easily forgotten.
Meanwhile, outgoing MCA Youth chief Datuk Nicole Wong appeared to share his sentiment, saying that MCA should never engage in any collaboration with DAP although both parties are now part of the coalition government; she said DAP had continuously subjected MCA to insults and malicious talk in the past 57 years!
However, according to a report in Malaysiakini, its incoming Youth chief Ling Tian Soon seems to hold a different view, claiming that MCA is willing to set aside its decades-long animosity with DAP for the sake of the nation and people.
The two bitter rivals had unexpectedly found themselves on the same team after Pakatan Harapan chairperson Anwar Ibrahim and his BN counterpart Ahmad Zahid Hamidi formed a coalition government after the last general election in November 2022.
Nevertheless, it's difficult to see what sort of value proposition MCA can offer given the current situation in the country and especially so without any representative in the federal government while DAP has several ministers in its rank.
Moreover, DAP and MCA have sometimes been referred to as two sides of the same coin where you have to choose either heads or tail - that's how ideologically opposed they are!
But while DAP seems to have shaken off its "opposition" mentality with Anthony Loke and its other cabinet ministers seen to be performing fairly well, is MCA willing to drop its image as a party for "Datuks" and taukes (business owners)? Is it prepared not to mix business with politics?
Some observers may say that the only place it could find relevance is in Umno as it's difficult to see MCA as a "champion" of the working class Chinese, or any other community for that matter.
Furthermore, its refusal to bury the hatchet with DAP is another factor that could see it losing more of its credibility. Indeed, it's as if they have given up all hopes and are resigned to biding their time!
Interestingly, Dr Wee was quoted by the Malay language daily Utusan Malaysia of having said recently that the cooperation between PH and BN was "only for this term" given that no party could command a majority in parliament to form a government.
Perhaps, he was casting his eyes beyond the next general election, hoping that the current unity government would have been "disbanded" by then and Umno, probably with a new leader, would have regained its “throne”; MCA can then once again take pride of place in the new BN government - just like in the good old days? But what if things don't turn out that way?
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