MCA must live up to expectations: BUT DOES ANYONE EXPECT ANYTHING MUCH?

Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai has been elected as the MCA president and Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong as party deputy president. They are going to lead the party into a new era, temporarily ending the infighting.

Liow defeated Gan Ping Sieu who garnered 1,000 votes with just 186 majority votes, while another candidate Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat received only 160 votes.

Overall, although it was an intense battle, it still reflected the party's democracy. Despite the factional struggles before the election, the MCA wins only if the factions rejoin as a team after the election. The MCA, which has sinking for years, cannot afford further split. Party members, as well as the Chinese community hope that Liow and his team shouting the slogan of "pursuing a new path for the next generation" can lead the MCA revive.

The victory of Liow and Wee could actually help the party to avoid staging the same tragedy caused by infighting between the president and deputy president. Meanwhile, the four vice-president and 25 central committee posts are divided between the Liow and Chua factions.

Although Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek did not seek for a re-election this time, he has retained the Chua faction's force in the central committee while sending his son Datuk Chua Tee Yong to the vice-president post. The Chua faction have 11 people in the party's central committee while Liow have 10, showing a great possibility that party central delegates had votes based on the peace plan between the Liow and Chua factions.

How can it last, a switch of allegiance to Liow is inevitable

However, it is believed that such a "balanced position distribution" would not last for long. Once the president appoints eight central committee members, the party's secretary-general and treasurer-general with his authority, there will be a gap between the two factions. It is also believed that some neutral central committee members will tend to support the mainstream after some time, forming a new integration. For the party, such an integration is in fact, necessary.

The attendance of central delegates had reached 98.66%, setting the second highest record in MCA's history while reflecting how much the central delegates valued the party election. The first step towards revival was taken. The election results also showed that the central delegates are having a common expectation. For instance, all the four vice-president elected are high in quality and young and the MCA indeed needs such young politicians to reform and revive. Once the vice-presidents can go beyond factional differences and work together to promote reforms, it will sure be able to bring the party a new atmosphere.

After the party election, the MCA needs to be re-integrated and re-united, particularly after suffering defeat in two general elections, the morale among party members and the grassroots are now low. If the new leadership really wants to pursue a new path for the next generation, it must fist abandon the "tradition" of infighting, which has troubled the party for the past decade. The frequent infighting has sapped the party while creating a bad image that the party has the courage for internal fight but not external fight. It has been rejected by the Chinese community while its power in the BN coalition has been weakened. If its factional struggle continues, the infighting will only lead it to a dead end.

Racism has risen after the May general election and the Chinese has been trapped in a difficult situation due to weakened political power. In addition to revitalising the party, the MCA should also pay attention to various problems faced by the Chinese community. It is of course necessary to rejoin the Cabinet but whether the new party leadership can pursue a new path for the next generation or not, it still depends on whether it can fight for the Chinese community after rejoining the Cabinet. - mysinchew