What The Future Holds For BN Component Parties
(Malaysian Digest) – All three presidents of the major component parties, Datuk Seri S Subramaniam, President of MIC, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, President of MCA, and Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong, lost, marking BN’s worst ever performance in a general election.
Today marks two weeks since our historic election, the day that most Malaysians are now calling the dawn of a “New Malaysia”.
In the 14th General Election, many firsts were recorded. We saw our youngest parliamentary member ever, the biggest majority votes difference ever, and of course the most surprising, we saw the loss of power of the ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional (BN), for the first time ever in 61 years.
After 61 long years of being the government, Barisan Nasional now finds itself in the unfamiliar role as the opposition coalition.
But that is not saying that the loss was in anyway expected at all.
During the build up towards the elections, almost every Barisan Nasional leader was confident that their coalition would retain power. Each one of them, in their own ways was confident that the mandate of the people will still be in their hands. Some of them boasted that they will win easily, meanwhile there were others who were quietly confident.
And truth be told, they were right to be confident. Most prominent political analysts predicted a safe win for them. Even the boldest predictions merely said that they will retain power, but they will lose a slight amount of majority in the number of parliamentary chairs.
But come the dawn of the day after the election, Malaysians were finally coming to grips with what has happened. The government has changed. All this was done by the power of the people exercising their democratic right to vote without bloodshed or riots.
A signal to the rest of the world, that at least in Malaysia, democracy still lives.
To BN, the repercussions of their unimaginable loss are still reverberating.
In the aftermath, several days after coming into grips with what just happened, BN chairman Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak stepped down from his post as the President of UMNO, citing it as a way for him to take responsibility of the loss.
The rest of coalition was left to lick their wounds, and prepare themselves to be labeled as the opposition.
But what actually caused BN’s devastating loss?
Evidence pointed to many factors, such as the massive “anti-Najib” sentiment that the people held, the rising cost of living and the pull of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, among others.
But there is one factor that might have had a hand in BN’s loss, that has not been discussed yet.
And that is, the lacklustre performance of the component parties in BN. The most prominent among them are the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) and Parti Gerakan Malaysia (Gerakan).
If you look at the results of GE14, the numbers are damning. Out of the 79 parliamentary seats won by BN, UMNO won 47 of them. In the peninsula, almost all of BN’s seats were won by UMNO. MIC won two seats via i Datuk M Saravanan in Tapah and C Sivarraajh in Cameron Highlands. Meanwhile, MCA only managed to win one seat, via their Vice-President, Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong in Ayer Hitam. Another major component party in BN, Gerakan failed to win any seats.
Even more shocking, all three presidents of the major component parties, Datuk Seri S Subramaniam, President of MIC, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, President of MCA, and Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong, lost, marking BN’s worst ever performance in a general election.
So what caused this? Why were the component parties of BN rejected in such an outright manner?
In hindsight, the rejection of these three major component parties in BN can be traced all the way back to the 13th General Election, when the “Chinese Tsunami” happened. In this election, the Chinese community has shown signs that the trust they had in MCA to stand up for their rights have eroded, and they turned to DAP instead.
Chinese And Indian Communities Voice Out Their Woes
But why did they reject MCA, after so many years?
According to ethnic Chinese locals who spoke to Malaysian Digest, the reason they reject MCA is simple; they don’t fight for the rights of the Chinese anymore.
“For the past 30 years, I have been voting for MCA almost religiously. But I have had enough as I saw my children growing up, and then my children getting married, but almost nothing have changed.
“My children are still as oppressed as before. And now, it’s even worse for them due to the rising cost of living, GST, and what not. I had to make a change, before it’s too late,” said small business owner, Liew Pek Chan, 51.
Some of the Chinese voters also said that they lost their trust in MCA after years watching MCA being treated as a second class member in the BN coalition.
“I voted for a change. I don’t think that MCA is able to bring any change to the lives of the Chinese community, so that’s why we are moving away from them. I think that MCA is used as a political tool by UMNO, who holds all the power in Barisan Nasional,” said Eric Siew, a 28-year-old accountant from Taman Seri Gombak.
The same story can be said for the Indian community, who lost their trust towards the MIC for almost identical reasons to the Chinese community.
Mathiyalagan, 28, says that he feels like the Indian community has always been the most marginalized in Malaysia, and it doesn’t seem like it’s gonna change anytime soon.
“I feel like the Indians in Malaysia has always gotten the shortest straw, and I think this needs to change. We should no longer tolerate this, and if the MIC won’t help us change this, then we will go to any party that promises change,” he said.
There are also some who believe that just like the MCA, MIC is too afraid to call out UMNO for their mistakes and misdeeds, which causes them to lose their trust towards MIC.
“MIC is just another tool for BN to fool Indians. They say they fight for the Indians, but what they do is just bow, nod and say yes to their UMNO counterparts. I am glad that we have changed, because now the future looks brighter for the Indian community, and for the whole of Malaysia as well,” said Magen Raj, a 52-year-old taxi driver.
Although the reasons might vary, but the outcome is clear. The Chinese community and the Indian community has rejected both MCA and MIC, and the consequences are devastating.
Malaysian Digest reached out to the component parties to gauge the sentiment on their side.
“Due To The People Rejecting UMNO, MCA And MIC Were Implicated As Well”
It cannot be denied that there is a systematic rejection of MCA and MIC by the Chinese and Indian community respectively, some might argue that the reason why they were so wholly rejected was because of their affiliation with UMNO.
In the months, perhaps years leading to the election, it can be said that there was a widespread rejection of UMNO and their perceived supremacy which is not helped by some UMNO leader’s conduct.
According to MCA’s Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker, BN component parties basically suffered collateral damage.
Datuk Ti Lian KerIn a short interview with Datuk Seri Ti, he stated that he believes that both MCA and MIC were collateral damage due to the rejection of the people towards UMNO, and towards Datuk Seri Najib Razak specifically.
“If you look at the policies and products that MCA has drawn up for the Chinese community, you can see that MCA has provided the best for the Chinese community, especially in public services , education and economy.”
“But due to the people’s rejection of UMNO, MCA and MIC as associates suffered collateral damage,” Ti explained.
One of the reasons that MCA was rejected by the Chinese community is due to the perception the Chinese are being treated as second class citizens under the BN government. Ti says that this perception may be true in the past but BN under Tun Abdullah and Najib have been working towards removing the racist policies. The BRIM, PRIMA etc have no racial barriers moving away from that practice.
“The perception that UMNO calls all the shots in BN started during Tun Mahathir’s time. But this has been improving ever since Tun Abdullah Badawi’s time, and continued to improve during Datuk Seri Najib’s time. Datuk Seri Najib has always been a very moderate and understanding leader.
“But however, due to various scandals and public opinion, there was a widespread rejection of Najib , UMNO and BN, which inevitably hurt MCA and MIC at the same time,” stressed Ti.
Ti also added that the Malaysian Chinese community might have felt slighted by the selective implementation of policies that can be seen as marginalizing them in the past such as promotions in the public services , scholarships , businesses restrictions etc
“But the fact is that during BN’s rule, all communities are being taken care of and none was sidelined. This statement has been repeatedly stated by our Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir when he was BN’s premier for 22 years.
When asked about the future of MCA, Ti opined that MCA has to do their post-mortem ,introspection and reflection after the near annihilation in the recent GE 14.
“Now, it is time for MCA to seriously charter their path and future. We will walk on irrespective of with or without BN.
“Moving forward, we will continue to act as a check and balance and be an effective opposition to the present government. We will continue to plough on as a political party to serve the people in good conscience ,” he added.
“We will need time to change our political culture and the way we do things. This will take time because MCA is a big organisation with real grassroots members. We have actual grassroots members who join the party because they believe in the party. Contrary to beliefs most of our members are not in it for the money or the position. They are ordinary folks who sweat and toll for the party and what we stand for . MCA is a communal party subscribing to BN concept of multiracialism. “
“We used to fight for the community and the minority from within the BN government. Now we are out of the government, we do not have the burden to defend the government policies and am free to charter our own course . We have more freedom and leverage to do what’s right and good for the nation,” Ti stressed.
“Going forward, we have to start from ground zero. We are no longer collectively responsible and tied to the government policies or decisions. It is time for us to be more critical and creative to impress on the people our relevance.
“Our past services in education and sociology-economic progress such as setting up the TAR College and University TAR , being a check and balance within the BN government etc are not getting us enough votes . Now these duties and responsibilities are effectively handed over to DAP. We shall play and adjust our roles as the opposition now,” he concluded.
As The Saying Goes, When You Hit Rock Bottom …
“Once you hit rock bottom, that’s where you perfectly stand; That’s your chance of restarting, but restarting the right way.”
That quote attributed to Justin Kanayurak has to be one of the most quoted piece of advice around but perhaps in the case of BN component parties, it couldn’t be more appropriate.
Apparently Ti feels the same way and expressed the view that there is much reason for optimism.
“Although right now the Chinese community might have made their choice, and they didn’t choose us, we are confident that we will be able to garner the Chinese support in the future.
“The Chinese voters have always exhibited a tendency to go for the underdog, so this time we are the underdog. And we will be providing effective check and balance for the opposition,” said Datuk Ti.
Ti’s opinion is also echoed by a prominent political analyst, Datuk Dr Ahmad Atory Hussein.
Dr Ahmad Atory Hussain
According to Professor Atory, MCA will be able to bounce back from this, provided they are willing to rebuild.
“Chinese voters are very flexible. They are not as fanatical as Malay voters. For a Malay voter, let’s say they are a supporter of UMNO, then he will vote UMNO for the rest of his life. But Chinese voters are not like that,” observed Professor Atory.
Professor Atory also said that in his opinion, the main reason why BN lost was that they failed to wrest control of the Chinese votes.
“If you look at the statistics, 85% of Chinese voters voted for DAP. This is why BN lost. They failed to gain back the support of the Chinese voters,” Professor Atory points out.
And he said that Chinese voters usually vote based on the economy, which proved to be BN’s downfall.
“The Chinese voters were feeling burdened by the rising cost of living, and the GST. This is why they decided that it’s time for a change. The Chinese usually does not pay much attention to policy matter, but they want a strong economy,” Professor Atory highlighted.
He added that he believes that there is ample reason for MCA not to worry about their status, and focus on rebuilding.
“The Chinese are not fanatical, as I have mentioned. If the government fails to provide a strong economy, then I won’t be surprised if they swing back towards MCA in the coming election,” he concluded.
Although the future might be unknown for MCA, especially with reports saying that UMNO is looking at becoming multi-racial in the future, perhaps just as MCA’s Ti said, now is the time for them to reflect, and rebuild.
But for now, BN component parties, along with the rest of BN must familiarize themselves in an unfamiliar role of providing the government with an effective opposition, and offer effective check and balances to ensure that the government is accountable.
