ONCE the face of the party and its first contact point for hundreds from the Chinese community, MCA’s service centres nationwide are shutting down for lack of funding following Barisan Nasional’s loss of federal power.
The centres helped members of the community solve their problems, ranging from those who could not get identity cards to issues related to the local authority.
However, all this changed when MCA was decimated in the May 9 general election.
MCA initially thought the party would receive the support of between 23% and 25% of Chinese voters, but it ended up getting only 2% of the Chinese vote in GE14, turning it from a party that once represented Chinese interests, to a party that has been utterly rejected by the community.
Currently, MCA only has the Ayer Hitam parliamentary seat, and the Cheka and Titi Tinggi state seats.
MCA’s top leadership was all but annihilated, leaving only deputy president Wee Ka Siong as MP for Ayer Hitam.
A branch leader said with the loss of power, the service centres could no longer match the party’s claim of providing service to the community as funds were no longer coming.
“The voters don’t want us anymore, there’s no point in service. Furthermore, we are now the opposition; we don’t have the funds to keep the service centres running. Our job now is to keep check on the government,” said a Bandar Tun Razak party officer.
“Now, if the people have any problems, they should go look for DAP and PKR, not MCA,” he told The Malaysian Insight.
The Malaysian Insight visited several MCA service centres in the capital Kuala Lumpur and found them shuttered.
A party official said running the service centres was a costly affair. Assuming that each service centre has four employees, each with a monthly salary of RM3,000, this would add up to RM12,000. Factoring in rent and utility bills, this would total about RM20,000 a month.
At about RM240,000 a year, even if members want to keep serving the people until the next general election, state leaders will find raising the sum a daunting task.
The party’s service centres were active in 40 parliamentary constituencies and 90 state seats – these were seats where the representative was from MCA.
“The number of service centres varied according to the size of the division and its finances. Some had two or three in a constituency.
“But the thrust was to provide help to the Chinese community,” said a senior leader, who felt that shuttering the centres will end whatever personal touch the party had with the community.
While some centres were shuttered immediately after GE14, some division leaders have given their employees a grace period, keeping them on the payroll while telling them to look for new jobs and sparing them unemployment.
Some leaders bemoan the closure of the service centres as a huge loss to the party, but others say it heralds the start of the party’s transformation.
MCA has counted on its availability to help the community as one of its strengths, but one party veteran told The Malaysian Insight that it was now time to reevaluate its core strengths.
“We need to determine whether we want to keep performing grassroots service or use different methods to gain the Chinese community’s support,” he said.
“If we keep serving the people but do not get any support in return, then what’s the point?”
MCA president Liow Tiong Lai has announced that he will not be contesting for any posts in the coming party elections, leaving the party leaderless and directionless.
“We lost the election, even the president lost, we didn’t think we could lose this badly,” said the party source.
“We have lost our direction and we don’t see a way ahead.”
MCA is facing its toughest challenge since its formation, and what it needs to focus on now is electing new leaders who can win the hearts of voters.
Whatever the route it takes, the only thing that is certain for MCA now is that its once-thriving service centres will no longer be a part of its future.– June 13, 2018.
Comments
Posted 5 years ago by Lee Lee · Reply
Posted 5 years ago by Chris Ng · Reply
Such spineless leadership shown by MCA which further illustrates their true motives was never the people all this while but power and money is their real religion.
Just as well I suppose and acting like spoilt brats being refused their cookies before dinner I'm sure will endear MCA even more to all Malaysians.
What arrogance and stupidity has so consumed MCA that they still can't seem to be perturbed in the slightest in their defeat?
Posted 5 years ago by Johan Iskandar · Reply
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