Did we ask ‘apa lagi Melayu mahu’ in 1999?

A delegate to the MCA Youth assembly also reminds Umno that the BN will never retain its two-thirds majority in Parliament unless MCA candidates win seats at the general election.

KUALA LUMPUR: Umno came under fire from a MCA Youth delegate, at the movement’s annual general assembly here today, for insulting the Malaysian Chinese community after the 13th General Election in May this year.

Federal Territories MCA Youth delegate Chris Wong reminded Umno, which forms the backbone of the ruling Barisan Nasional government, that it was the Chinese votes that helped the ruling coalition retain power after the 1999 General Election.

Referring to the Umno-owned daily Utusan Melayu’s front page headline on May 6, entitled ‘Apa Lagi Cina Mahu?’ (What more do the Chinese want?), he said MCA never heaped scorn on the Malays when the community turned its back on the BN at the 1999 polls.

“In 1999 when the Chinese were fully behind the Barisan Nasional, did we ever ask ‘apa lagi Melayu mahu’?”

“Today we are called all sorts of names such as pendatang (immigrants) because the Chinese did not deliver votes for the BN.

“I want to tell Umno, without MCA, BN would never have two-thirds majority (in the Parliament). So do you want to continue calling us pendatang?” he said, in a strong-worded speech.

In 1999, the Malays deserted BN following the sacking of the then deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim from office. However, the ruling coalition was able to maintain its two-third majority due to the Chinese votes.

The reversal took place in recent general election, which saw the Chinese and urban Malaysians reject BN, resulting in  MCA attaining its worst electoral performance. The second largest political party in the BN only secured 7 parliamentary seats and 11 state seats.

Wong, the Bangsar MCA Youth chief, said MCA needs to be aggressive to win back Chinese votes.

“If somebody holds-up a keris, we should take out a sword to respond,” he said, referring to former Umno Youth chief Hishammuddin Hussein who wielded a keris in Umno AGM in a bid to call for the defence of the Malay’s rights.

MCA is like stuck zipper

He said MCA was not respected by its BN partners because it was bogged down with constant infighting.

Whereas, the Chinese community rejected MCA because the party failed to be champion the cause of good governance.

“If we do not correct this, come the next GE, we will close shop,” he said.

Meanwhile, Perak MCA Youth representative Ngoo Tuck Keong likened MCA’s current dilemma to a stuck zipper.

He said similar to a stuck zipper, MCA could not move upward because it failed to resolve its outstanding problems.

“So I hope the new leadership can start unzip the zipper and identify the problems that caused the jam.

“Only by resolving the old issues, can the zip work as it should,” he said, drawing an outburst from delegates attending the assembly.