10 MCA members stage sit-in to protest against EGM

An MCA grassroots protest group say the party must regain the support of the Chinese first.

KUALA LUMPUR: In a rare move, ten MCA members have vowed to sit-in at the party headquarters until Saturday night in a protest against the party’s attempt to rejoin the federal cabinet through a voting session to be held at this Sunday’s extraordinary general meeting (EGM).

The group who call themselves MCA grassroots conscience action committee said they oppose any attempt to rejoin the cabinet until the party has regained the Chinese community’s support.

“The leadership is saying they should return to the cabinet because the Chinese associations want them to do so.

“But the question is, do these associations represent the  millions of Chinese in Malaysia?

“We are of the view that MCA should make efforts to perform well and change the Chinese community’s perception towards us, only then we have the locus standi to rejoin the cabinet,” said group spokesperson Tong Ka Yan at MCA building lobby today.

Tong who is also the KL MCA Youth leader said that the reception of MCA in the upcoming Kajang by-election is one way to examine the level of Chinese community support.

“Or the party can conduct a survey for the purpose, like how we did to select a candidate for Kajang,” she added.

Tong said she considered the grassroots group as “the minority trying to make the loudest noise”, and said they hoped their two day sit-in would be able to sway some central delegates into vetoing the motion this Sunday.

“If the management decides to shut down the building at night, we will move to the bus stop in front of the building,” she added.

At the time of writing, the group were seen sitting at the ground floor of Wisma MCA with banners that read “defend the party integrity”, “listen to the grassroots” and “we want secret balloting”.

The EGM is being conducted at the request of more than 1,900 central delegates, who submitted a signed  joint petition to the party leadership last week.

It would only discuss one motion, which is to allow MCA members to accept all-levels of government positions.

This drew criticism from former party president Chua Soi Lek, who said the majority of the 2,385 MCA delegates had already voted in favour of two motions to reassume local and state government posts at the last EGM held in October, thus this EGM should only serve to discuss the federal cabinet posts.

The grassroots protest group coordinator Yap Ah Seng said given that the EGM is set to be held, they would now strive to demand for secret balloting on Sunday.

“The central delegates would vote through a show of hands unless there is request otherwise, from one-third of the delegates.

“Now we are asking for that because we believe that more people would vote against the motion if there is secret balloting,” he said.

Meanwhile, an MCA headquarter office staff said they would persuade the protest group to leave Wisma MCA after the building closes at midnight.

MCA stuck to its pledge to decline all government posts after the worst general election results by the party in 2013.

The new party leadership elected last December however say that they want to overturn the pledge and re-enter the cabinet.

On related matter, Huaren Resources Sdn Bhd, which manages the building, urged the MCA members gathered at the vicinity to stop holding demonstrations within the premises.

“With the exception of the 7th and 10th floor which houses the MCA headquarters, 80% of the other units are for rent and used for commercial purposes,” said its senior property manager Hew Yit Hwa.

She urged the protesters to find another location to hold their gathering, claiming it may cause disturbance to other tenants at the building.

“It is our aim to ensure that the premise is always kept peaceful and safe at all times,” said Hew.