'Sidelined' by Anwar-led govt, MCA and MIC invited to join PN

 

A Bersatu leader today said MCA and MIC are welcome to join Perikatan Nasional and suggested that the two parties abandon their BN coalition and the unity government.

According to S Subramaniam (above), who is Bersatu associate wing information chief, both MCA and MIC had allegedly been sidelined by the Anwar Ibrahim-led unity government.

They are also not being appreciated by BN chairperson Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, he said.

Subramaniam told Malaysiakini that this could be seen from the cabinet line-up, where none of their leaders was on the list.

"This clearly shows the parties are no longer being appreciated by Zahid.

"So, I am asking MCA and MIC to rethink their position in BN, and they are welcomed to join PN," he said.

When Anwar formed his cabinet after being sworn in as Malaysia's 10th prime minister in November last year, no MCA or MIC leaders were on his list of ministers.

Prior to this, both parties had been uneasy towards Zahid's plan to form a unity government with Pakatan Harapan.

MCA only won two parliamentary seats in the last general election, namely Ayer Hitam (Wee Ka Siong) and Tanjung Piai (Wee Jeck Seng). Ka Siong is the MCA president while Jeck Seng is a member of the party's central leadership committee.

MIC only won one parliamentary seat in the election through its deputy president M Saravanan (Tapah).

Besides MCA and MIC, two other BN component parties are Umno and PBRS.

Umno was given six ministerial and five deputy minister posts under the current unity government, while PBRS received one deputy minister post.

MIC president SA Vigneswaran had previously said the party would not demand any seat in the cabinet, in respect of BN's position against having Anwar and DAP in the government.

However, the former Dewan Negara president added that the party was willing to accept if Anwar offers them a position in the government.

May become irrelevant

Meanwhile, Subramaniam said MCA and MIC may become irrelevant and “disappear” from politics altogether if they continue to stick with BN in the upcoming state elections.

"From what I was informed, both parties were not even invited to discuss seat allocation for the state elections.

"Most probably they would get maybe one seat in each state, or maybe none at all.

"This is because of vindictive politics practised by certain Umno leaders against the two parties," he said.

Previously, MCA and MIC leaders had a disagreement with certain Umno leaders when the Malay-based party wanted to topple Muhyiddin Yassin as a prime minister.

The two parties did not support the Umno supreme council's decision then to withdraw their support to Muhyiddin.

Malaysiakini is trying to reach Ka Siong and Vigneswaran for their response. - Mkini