Umno Youth chief Muhamad Akmal Saleh has reminded MCA vice-president Tan Teik Cheng that the party also needed to accept a decline in Chinese support.
Akmal said the seats held by MCA are mostly Malay.
“We regret our defeat in Kemaman and will continue to work on our weaknesses.
“However, I would like to remind the MCA vice-president (Tan) that as of the past few general elections, they have lost Chinese support. In fact, the seats won by MCA are of Malay majority.
“Don’t just point fingers, but also look in the mirror,” he told Malaysiakini when contacted.
Yesterday, Tan called on BN chairperson Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to wake up and accept that Malay support for the coalition continues to decline.
This is after Zahid claimed that BN's poor performance in the Kemaman by-election was because the coalition's "white voters" did not go out to vote.
White in Malaysian electoral lingo denotes strong supporters.
On Saturday, Perikatan Nasional bagged 70.1 percent of votes in Kemaman, which was formerly a BN stronghold until the coalition lost it in 2018.
Tan said it is clear from all the elections that have taken place since November last year that Malay votes are split between BN and PN.
However, he said BN and Umno can leverage their role within the government to win support.
In last year's 15th general elections, MCA only won two out of the 44 parliamentary seats it contested in - Tanjung Piai and Ayer Hitam.
Following its disastrous outing, it decided to sit out of the six state elections held in August this year.
‘Umno does not give up hope’
Umno supreme council member Mohd Puad Zarkashi opined that, unlike MCA, Umno was unafraid to contest again despite a decline in support.
"Umno is not MCA. Umno does not give up hope. Umno is not afraid like MCA, which is why MCA did not contest in the six state elections. Umno contested in Kemaman with determination," he told Malaysiakini.
Puad added that Umno has a record of making comebacks - citing its success in winning the Cameron Highlands, Semenyih, Rantau, Kimanis, Chini and Slim by-elections after losing government in GE14.
"Umno will take advantage of today's (government) cooperation to defend the people. It's a party that 'walks the talk'.
"Sooner or later, the Malays will return to support Umno," he said.
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