Win or lose, MCA seat at BN table may never be the same again

MCa’s inability to beat back DAP’s assault on its stronghold puts BN’s power-sharing formula in question. — File picKUALA LUMPUR, April 13 — Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) push into Johor has sent the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition scrambling to defend its proclaimed bastion, but also threatens to put MCA’s already weakened place in Malaysian politics to the test.

Built on a recipe for communal power-sharing dating back to Independence, the inability of the Chinese party to secure electoral backing while under siege from rival DAP at its Johor doorstep may permanently unravel BN’s so-called formula, according to political analyst Ooi Kee Beng.

“The coming elections will pose a fundamental challenge to the BN model of coalition politics with Malay-based Umno and Chinese-based MCA as key partners,” Ooi wrote in Singapore’s The Straits Times.

Ooi noted that while many MCA ministers and leaders hail from the state, party president’s refusal to pick up the Gelang Patah gauntlet thrown down by the DAP — declaring instead a possibility of “lending” the seat to Umno — laid bare the former’s lack of confidence in its own safe house.

“For one thing, MCA’s position as the party representing the Chinese vote bank is under full frontal attack from the DAP.”

But the bigger fear of an MCA drubbing and the resultant lack of Chinese representation, Ooi wrote, would be the forced departure from BN’s age-old formula of communal power-sharing.

“If the MCA loses most of its parliamentary seats in the coming elections ... then BN will be without proper Chinese representation.

“Malaysia has to be ruled by a coalition representing all major ethnic groups, and the coalition that fails to project that image cannot be stable. For Umno and its allies, a new formula will have to be found even if they get the majority of seats,” Ooi wrote.

Already, the showdown has taken on an ominous overtone, with former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad warning that a win for Lim Kit Siang ― DAP’s declared runner in Gelang Patah ― would result in racial confrontations.

“Kit Siang is going to bring about conflict and antagonism between the races, to wage the Chinese to dislike and hate the Malays,” Dr Mahathir wrote in his chedet.cc blog.

“An unhealthy racial confrontation would replace Sino-Malay cooperation which has made Malaysia stable and prosperous.” Dr Mahathir added.

“That co-operation will end when Kit Siang wins Gelang Patah.”

The Malaysian Insider previously reported Umno plans on fielding their candidates either in all of the DAP seats or most of them as the Malay vote is more dependable than Chinese support, say strategists.

It is undersood the BN war room believes Umno candidates can beat back the DAP attack in Johor and other Malay-majority states rather than MCA hopefuls.

“Umno candidates have a better chance of keeping BN seats than the MCA, so we’re looking into pushing more Malay candidates,” a ruling coalition source told The Malaysian Insider.

MCA has since confirmed it will be “lending” the Kuantan seat to Umno.

Some 13.3 million Malaysians are eligible to vote, with about three million being first-time voters, in what is touted to be the closest general election in Malaysian history.