MCA shocked by rebranding

Dr Wee: Dr Ahmad Zahid cannot make unilateral decisions on behalf of Barisan.

KUALA LUMPUR: The proposal to rebrand Barisan Nasional, including bringing PAS in as a political partner, was done without MCA’s know­ledge, says a senior MCA leader.

He said MCA – the second largest Barisan component party after Umno – was shocked when coalition chairman and Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced the move on Saturday.

Dr Ahmad Zahid also announced Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz as the Barisan secretary-general.

“MCA only participated in one Barisan supreme council meeting after GE14 to discuss the post-­mortem on Barisan’s performance in the elections..

By convention, the top three MCA leaders – president, deputy president and secretary-general – attend the Barisan Nasional supreme council meeting.

Yesterday, MCA presidential candidates Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong and Gan Ping Sieu were up against Dr Ahmad Zahid’s proposal.

Gan made it very clear that MCA is not interested in Barisan’s rebranding, and that he had in fact stated in no uncertain terms that he and his team would take MCA out of Barisan once they win the party elections on Nov 4.

“A rebranded Barisan with PAS, a political party with theocratic objective, is a no go for MCA,” he noted.

Gan: MCA is not interested in the rebranding, and we are leaving Barisan by Dec 2.

Amid an uneasy on-off relationship with Umno over its deviation – perceived or real – from the coalition’s core principles, the call by MCA members to leave Barisan heightened when Dr Ahmad Zahid and top Umno leaders attended the PAS muktamar in September this year.

Nazri, who had incessantly showed open contempt and disres­pect towards MCA, including saying “MCA is not the voice of the Chinese” in February this year, had widened the rift between Umno and MCA.

Gan and his running mate Datuk Tee Siew Kiong, who is vying for the deputy president’s post, issued a joint statement yesterday asking the incumbent MCA leadership whether the party – as the second largest Barisan component party – had been consulted prior to Umno’s de­­ci­­sion to rebrand Barisan and appoint Nazri as the coalition’s secretary-general as well as being task­ed to take charge of the rebranding.

Dr Wee in a Facebook post yesterday stated that MCA would cut ties with Umno if it proceeds to partner with PAS without prior discussions with Barisan component parties.

As the incumbent MCA deputy president, he pointed out that Dr Ahmad Zahid could not make unilateral decisions on behalf of Bari­san.

Dr Wee said there was no future for a mono-ethnic political path and that Dr Ahmad Zahid would be remembered as “the person who brings Umno and Barisan to an end”.-Star