Malaysian party crisis puts pressure on PM
By Kevin Brown, Financial Times
Najib Razak, Malaysia’s prime minister, was on Sunday struggling to control a crisis in the Malaysian Chinese Association, the ruling coalition’s second-largest party. His difficulties raise fresh questions about his ability to fight off a resurgent opposition.
The crisis erupted after a special conference of the MCA failed to back either Ong Tee Keat, party leader and a close ally of the prime minister, or Chua Soi Lek, a former deputy leader fired by Mr Ong after revelations about his private life. Mr Najib, who leads both the Barisan Nasional [National Front] coalition and the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), the coalition’s largest party, called on MCA members to put the interests of the party and the coalition above the rivalry of the two leaders.
“The BN wants the leadership situation within MCA to be resolved quickly,” Mr Najib said on Sunday.
Mr Ong, who remains leader in spite of losing a vote of confidence, said he took responsibility for the outcome of the conference and would consult supporters about his position ahead of the party’s next central committee meeting on Thursday.
The botched conference leaves the MCA rudderless and increases pressure on Mr Najib, whose 13-party coalition has been troubled by infighting since a shock general election result in August last year deprived it of its two-thirds majority in parliament.
The MCA lost ground heavily to opposition parties in the election, as did the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), the coalition’s third-largest member, while Umno lost support in the ethnic Malay community to the Islamist Parti Islam Semalaysia.
The MIC has also suffered leadership problems, and in a clear sign of growing disquiet among Umno leaders, Mr Najib on Saturday shrugged off protests from MIC leaders to attend the launch of the new Makkal Sakti party, which has its roots in the banned civil rights group Hindraf, some of whose leaders were jailed for heading anti-discrimination protests in 2007.
Government strategists had hoped a clear leadership vote in the MCA would allow Mr Najib to concentrate on economic reforms intended to boost the economy and reach out to Chinese and Indian voters by reducing discrimination in favour of ethnic Malays.
However, opinion polls suggest that the government is finding it difficult to recover the support of ethnic minority voters. Mr Najib’s approval rating has slipped 9 percentage points to 56 per cent over the past three months, according to the latest opinion survey by the Merdeka Centre, an independent Malaysian research institute.
