Soi Lek admits MCA's house is in order but not 100 percent

MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek today warned its members that party positions would be meaningless if the party loses more seats in the next general election.

Advising party members to consolidate and move forward, he said the party’s biggest challenge was how to convince the people they represented and not which position they should be vying for in the party elections next year.

“Unless MCA can unite, we cannot get Chinese support. We have to put our house in order. Our house is in order but not 100 per cent,” he said in an interview with selected media representatives in conjunction with the party’s annual general meeting (AGM) this weekend.

Dr Chua, who took over the party leadership in March this year following fresh polls to resolve its leadership crisis, explained that MCA was facing what he termed as “benign neglect” after the 2008 general election.

“From May 2008, when (Tan Sri) Ong Ka Ting announced he would step down as party president until the party elections in October that year, nothing was done. The situation continued after the party elections until October last year,” he said.

Dr Chua said for the next general election, MCA would only field candidates with the higher chances of winning regardless of their age and sex.

“We want winnable candidates. There’s no point if the candidate is young but we know he will ‘koyak’ (be defeated),” he said, but refused to say whether he would be contesting in the next general election.

During the one-hour interview, Dr Chua said the party elections would be held as scheduled next year because under the party constitution, it could only be postponed after 42 months from the date of the last general election.

He said the proposal on direct elections had been brought up and discussed twice by the party’s decision-making body — the presidential council and the central committee — but the members felt it could not be implemented in next year’s party elections due to time constraint.

“The decision is unanimous that we are not going for direct elections next year because the party needs to get ready for the general election and more time is required to put the system in place.

“If we want to have direct elections, we need to amend our constitution, call for an EGM and get the approval of the Registrar of Societies (ROS). It will take at least eight months,” he explained.

On the morale of party members since he took over the party leadership in March, Dr Chua said the members were united to a certain extent.

“The biggest achievement is that everyone works together and the party is ready to face the general election. In the last six months, we have done more than what what we hoped for, mostly on education issues,” he said.

At the grassroot level, he said the party members were more supportive now and this could be gauged from the bigger turnout at the divisional annual meetings and state conventions.

Dr Chua said his leadership was focused on what it wanted to do and this had resulted in several positive results such as Chinese schools getting more aid from the government from next year.

Apart from that, he said those with the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) qualification could apply for a higher education loan or get into the teacher training colleges.

“I must thank Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak for allowing those with 9A+ in the SPM to be awarded with JPA (Public Service Department) scholarships.

“So far, more than 1,500 Chinese students have received the scholarships, three times the number before,” he said. — Bernama