The rejection of MCA

In the eyes of the Chinese, the party has failed to stand up for them on issues like education reform, business opportunities and not coming down hard on corruption

COMMENT

By Ken Vin Lek

Just minutes after Barisan Nasional clinched its 112th parliamentary seat, the Election Commision (EC) chief announced that it had won a simple majority enabling it to return to power for another five years, bringing its total tally of years in power to 60 – a period that would seem like an eternity in political terms.

On Twitter and Facebook, many were aghast at how unfair the result seemed, and a portion of the switched their profile pictures to black as a sign of protest.

The opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat whilst having gained a respectable number of parliamentary seats (7 in total) seemed displeased and in disbelief, alleging that fraudulent voting procedures affected the results.

Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of the opposition came out denouncing the EC and how dirty the elections were this time round. On the contrary, Najib Tun Razak, whilst humble in the victory of his party, was also dejected with the result of the poorer than expected performance of his coalition.

The press pressured him for answers regarding the poor performance, asking him why there was such a huge wave of Chinese voters choosing to vote for the opposition.

A poll done by Merdeka Center prior to the elections cited that 63% of the Chinese would vote for the opposition with only 10% saying that they would vote for BN.

Race-based parties competing, not races

At first glance, it would seem that the elections was a racially divided one; one where the majority of non-Malays voted for PR whilst the Malay population largely favoured BN.

However, this could also be construed in a different light; that this election was not one reflective of a racially divided public but instead one that differed in the preference of race-based parties from both the coalitions.

On one hand it was a battle between the MCA and the DAP for the Chinese vote, and on the other, it was a joint battle by PAS and PKR against Umno for the Malay vote.

DAP clearly triumphed over MCA in a majority of cases whilst Umno seem to have performed relatively well against the insurgence of PAS and PKR.

The important lesson from GE13, if we haven’t already learnt from 2008, is that MCA is no longer relevant to the Chinese community, more so now than before.

The fact that only a handful of MCA candidates won by the slimmest of majorities tells us the whole story.

In the Bentong, MCA’s deputy president Liow Tiong Lai’s once strong 12,549 majority was suddenly reduced to a miniscule 379 majority in a constituency of 62,266 voters.

The same applies to Chua Tee Yong in the Labis constituency who saw his majority slashed to only 353 voters.

And what about their fallen comrades?

Transport minister Kong Cho Ha, the two-time incumbent in Lumut, Perak, lost by a massive 8,168 majority to PKR’s newcomer Mohd Imran Abd Hamid.

MCA’s performance was the most awful in its history in which it only won six out of the 37 parliamentary seats and 10 out of the 90 state seats it contested in.

This is a stark contrast to its heyday in 2004 where it won 31 out of the 40 parliamentary seats contested and 74 out of the 87 state seats.

The ‘Chinese Tsunami’

The termed, coined by Najib when addressing the press shortly after winning the election, is definitely seen as a key issue needing rebalancing now.

In the eyes of the Chinese, MCA has failed to stand up for its previously loyal voter base, on education reform, business opportunities or its standing in the Malaysian public.

The allegations of corruptions against the party especially in relation to the administering and financing of the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) fiasco and the trial of its prominent former leader Dr Ling Liong Sik have definitely not helped in its cause.

The appointment of its current leader Dr Chua Soi Lek, with his questionable morals, has certainly backfired with his name being made the laughing stock at almost every DAP ceramah.

And whilst a lot of blame can be placed on MCA, one should not forget Umno’s role in its demise.

To quote Professor Clive Kessler: “ Umno is not ruling as when it formed the government at independence as a centrist party. It has instead gone back to 1946, where it portrays Malaysia as a Malay land and others have to accept the terms that Malays are prepared to give them.”

With BN’s support for extremist candidates such as Zulkifli Noordin and Ibrahim Ali, it has certainly scuppered any chance of being viewed as a party fairly representing people from all walks of life in Malaysia. This has come at a huge cost for MCA in the election.

DAP on the other hand, has steadily championed an open form of governance proven by the way it has run Penang, giving fair opportunity to any and every citizen to voice their views to changes that they would like to see in the state and country.

Its new candidates are young, energetic and vibrant, passionate about exposing the misgivings of the incumbent government and whose motto is to practice clean and fair politics.

Tony Pua for one has been relentless in his efforts to raise issues in parliament relating to how BN has been misusing public funds whether in regards to toll concessions or the cronyism practices in their party.

This has caught on with the majority of Chinese voters who want a party willing to stand up for them and fight against injustices occurring in the Malaysian political sphere.

Implications, looking forward

My initial reaction when I realised the composition of the BN parliamentary candidates who won in their respective seats was fear that MCA and MIC would no longer command significant positions in government’s cabinet and in the future together with the BN coalition.

The fact that they performed so badly is highly worrisome and one can only wonder how many non-Malay appointed senators would be brought in to produce a cabinet that would be seen as fair to the public with regards to its racial representation.

However, Najib’s victory message which was one that preached moderation and a reunification of the general public from both sets of party supporters makes me hold on to a slim hope that the once three-party coalition would not abandon its ideals of wanting to represent the whole Malaysian community instead of one race alone.

It is with that hope that BN will use the coming weeks to analyse and seek to address the issues faced by non-Malays with regards to their disapproval of their parties instead of continuing to marginalise them.

As for the next five years, they will have to make a significant impact in addressing issues with regards to poor governance, corruption and cronyism.

For PR, this election should be remembered for its steady gain in its quest for Putrajaya.

Whilst I am in no regard able to verify whether or not the elections were clean and fair, it is understandable to feel dejected having lost an election where everyone has put in so much effort in hope of a positive outcome.

However, all is not lost and PR together with its supporters should feel proud of what they have achieved despite any misgivings in the electoral system.

They have gained a formidable seven parliamentary seats from what was considered a highly successful 2008 election and in the process made inroads into BN’s strongholds in Johor, Sabah and Sarawak.

DAP also goes back with a lot of positives having won with landslide majorities in many of its constituencies across peninsula Malaysia and in Penang itself.

PAS and PKR on the other hand have to regroup and restrategise for the next election having not made any significant gains themselves, in particular, addressing ways to win over the rural Malay voters would be imperative in the process.

We should never forget that it took Gandhi 32 years to fight for independence whilst Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years in his fight to end apartheid.

In the context of Malaysia, the fight is still young and inroads have definitely been made in this memorable GE13 albeit slightly slower than many of its supporters have hoped for.