‘MCA erred in not accepting govt posts’

Party's vice president Donald Lim says the composition in the Cabinet does not reflect the proud declaration to the international community that Malaysia is a multi-racial nation.

KUALA LUMPUR: MCA vice president Donald Lim has maintained that MCA should have been part of the government despite its poor showing in the 13th general election.

“We are proudly telling the world how multiracial we are but there only Malays are in the cabinet, how can that be?” he asked.

Lim, a former deputy finance minister, was referring to his party boss Dr Chua Soi Lek’s pre-election declaration that MCA will not accept government posts if it fared poorly in the13th GE on May 5.

The party was virtually decimated in the election, winning won only seven parliamentary seats.

Soon after the elections, the decision not to accept government posts was endorsed by the party’s presidential council.

However, since then, calls have emerged from within the rank and file that the “no Cabinet post” decision was a major mistake that risks turning MCA to an irrelevant entity.

Lim was among the few senior leaders to fire salvo at Chua over the matter, saying that party members did not speak up against the decision for fear that Chua would not field them as candidates in the GE.

In response, Chua had reiterated that the decision not to accept Cabinet positions had been a collective one and stressed that Lim was present at the presidential council meeting.

Lim, in a recent interview with FMT recently, said: “We must understand the word guojia (country in Mandarin). Where are the representatives from the Chinese community in the Cabinet? This is that I cannot understand about our leadership.”

When asked if Chua should relinquish his post, Lim said that it was something for the president to decide. “He is a wise man and a very hardworking individual. It’s up to him,” he said