What’s wrong with MCA?
The MCA – Malaysian Chinese Association – has been working with UMNO since it's founding in 1940's. MCA was founded in 1949 by Kuomintang members.
It was founded on the principles of freedom and the free man. Some of the prominent founders were HS Lee who was a colonel, Lim Chong Eu (Medical doctor and Colonel) and Leong Yew Koh (major general). In 1951, it became a partner in PERIKATAN- which was a coalition between UMNO, MCA and MIC.
In the 12th GE, MCA suffered one of its worst defeats in the party's history. It now has 15 parliamentary seats. It won 840,000 votes in the 12th GE. We assumed 90% of the votes came from Chinese voters. The other Chinese centric political party the DAP, has 28 seats in parliament (over 1 million votes) making it more representative of Chinese political interests than MCA and even GERAKAN (184,000 votes) combined.
The number of Chinese voters during the last GE was around 2.5 million. With around 760,000 purely Chinese votes (90% of 840k), this would mean, MCA managed to secure 30% of the Chinese votes with 1.7 million votes going to non MCA parties.
MCA is therefore seen as a weak partner to UMNO and BN. It has failed to deliver Chinese votes crucial to BN's victory. In the BUKIT GANTANG by-elections, Chinese votes for the BN were in fact reduced. BUKIT GANTANG more or less confirmed the perception that Chinese were abandoning MCA.
But why has MCA failed to attract Chinese voters? As senior partner to the coalition, UMNO leadership must also look into this matter. The failure of MCA is also a failure of UMNO.
