Choose MCA or be left out of government, Najib tells Chinese

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today the Chinese community must choose to vote the MCA if they still wanted to represented in Putrajaya, or be left out.

Najib, who is also Umno and the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition’s chief, said its Chinese partner had sent out a clear message to voters that they cannot have it both ways.

“I see the MCA sending the message that the Chinese cannot support the opposition and at the same time expect strong representation in the government. They have to choose,” he was reported as saying by state news agency Bernama.

Najib (picture) was responding to MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek’s pledge earlier today that the Chinese party would not accept any post in the federal and state governments if it scored worse in the coming 13th general election.

Currently, the senior party in the BN only has 15 MPs and 31 state assemblymen from the last general election in 2008.

It had contested in 40 parliamentary seats and 90 state seats in GE12.

Dr Chua said the decision to quit all posts will be raised at the party’s AGM on October 2.

“We want to tell our members that to win back the confidence of voters, we have to improve,” he was reported saying at a press conference in Malacca today by The Star English daily after a party brainstorming camp there.

The MCA presidential council has also backed Dr Chua’s promise to give up all government posts if it fails to win votes from the Chinese community it is supposed to represent.

Dr Chua was also reported to have said the MCA would stay in BN even if its performance remained dismal.

The former health minister has come under repeated attacks from the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) bloc and his predecessor in the MCA, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, in the last two weeks since the Sarawak state election.

Dr Chua has been challenged to stake the MCA’s government positions after controversially telling its Chinese coalition partner in Sarawak, SUPP, to drop all positions in the state Cabinet after a poor showing in the state polls.

However, the MCA and Umno-owned newspaper Utusan Malaysia have clashed over the latter’s call for a “1 Melayu, 1 Bumi” campaign to unite the Malays against the growing threat of Chinese political power.