MCA mustn’t leave the cabinet

 

What kind of a cabinet is it if it does not have a minister from MCA for the first time ever, and a 1Malaysia Cabinet at that? 

Azman Ujang, The Sun Daily 

FOR the second time in a row, the MCA again ended up the biggest loser of the just-ended general election. If the Barisan Nasional’s (BN) loss of its two-thirds majority in Parliament and four states in the 2008 election was attributed to a political tsunami, this time it was in the form of a massive swing of Chinese votes.

This fresh political tidal wave that swept the country on Sunday night saw the DAP scoring big wins, increasing its seats in Parliament to 38 from 29. With its two other partners in Pakatan Rakyat, PAS and PKR, the Opposition now has 89 seats, 23 short of a simple majority that would have enabled it to come to power in Putrajaya.

This is now all academic after the BN triumphantly returned to power in the hardest-fought election ever with 133 seats.

As MCA leaders start to lick the wounds of defeat a day after the polls, the attention is now turned to the making of the new cabinet by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak. Najib’s task is not being made any simpler by an announcement by MCA president Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek that the party is sticking to its decision not to accept any cabinet post now that it did not do better than the 2008 election.

Chua said the party EGM had passed a resolution that if it won less than the 15 parliamentary seats it obtained five years ago, none of its MPs would take up any government posts, including minister and deputy minister. The party fielded candidates in 40 parliamentary constituencies in 2008 but won only 15.

In reiterating that MCA would stick to this resolution, he said the party would have to go through another EGM if it wanted to revoke it.

After winning only seven of the 37 parliamentary seats it contested this time, its worst ever performance, the MCA surely now finds the idea of passing the resolution backfiring in its face. We all know that the objective of having this “threat” was to warn the Chinese electorate that the community would have no representation in the cabinet if the party did not win more MP seats. Gerakan, the other BN partner that put up Chinese candidates in the polls, was again wiped out in Penang and all its parliamentary candidates lost, too.

The question now is, should Najib be bound by this MCA’s internal electoral strategy that had gone awry when he assembles his new cabinet, expected over the next few days?

What kind of a cabinet is it if it does not have a minister from MCA for the first time ever, and a 1Malaysia Cabinet at that? All the six Chinese candidates who contested under the Sarawak United Peoples Party (SUPP) ticket, the other Chinese-based party in BN, also lost to their DAP opponents.

The cabinet would also be quite un-Malaysian without a Chinese minister. Now the MCA is still left with seven winning MPs, including incumbent Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai and Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong, among others, who could fill up the MCA’s usual quota of four ministers.

The tsunami unleashed during this 13th general election also just goes to show that the Chinese electorate would have no hesitation whatsoever to vote for a change if they want to. The Opposition rallying call this time was “Ubah” (change) and the vast majority of Chinese had made up their minds to vote against BN long before polling day.

This time, the BN was saved from defeat largely by the support still intact from Sabah and Sarawak, as Pakatan Rakyat further entrenched its position in Selangor and Penang, two of Malaysia’s richest states, by winning more seats.

How else would one explain the most surprising defeat of outgoing Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam? He had shifted from a state to a parliamentary seat and lost by over 6,000 votes majority in the process.

Ali Rustam has been chief minister for 13 years and widely acknowledged as the country’s most hands-on leader of a state government and credited for Malacca being accorded a developed status in 2010.

As it turns out, Ali Rustam’s Bukit Katil parliamentary constituency has 42 % Chinese voters and he lost because of them.

“I am completely disappointed with my defeat which is due to racial politics. It seems the people are ungrateful for all the government’s efforts at developing Malacca into what it is today,” he said in his first reaction to the defeat that scuttled his promising political career and plans to serve at the federal level.

Shortly after the BN obtained a simple majority that enabled it to be returned to power in the early hours of yesterday, Najib spoke of wanting to start the process of reconciliation to fight the growing trends of polarisation that emerged from the election.

He said his agenda was aimed at checking extremism and unhealthy racism and where policies would be based on the principles of moderation.

Because of the overwhelming and indisputable support given by the Chinese to the DAP, would it be conceivable to expect the prime minister at any time in the future to extend an olive branch to the party to join a government of national unity in line with his reconciliation agenda?

“Peace and racial harmony in the context of national unity are something which the BN values very much,” said Najib.

Granted the swing of Chinese votes is a strong wave in favour of DAP and its Pakatan allies, the MCA itself went into this election with some highly questionable strategies especially relating to winnable candidates.

Ex-MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat initially had the personal backing of Najib himself and the prime minister took time off to attend an event in his Pandan constituency before nomination day in a show of support.

But he was unceremoniously dropped from the candidates’ list in a move that could only be described as irrational, as was Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen, the outgoing minister of tourism, who was the first woman in MCA to have been elected party vice-president.

What now for this beleaguered party after being mauled at the polls? Does it still want to go ahead with being excluded from Najib’s new cabinet line-up just to show that it means business in keeping with its promise?

Its leaders must put their egos aside to think again and think hard.