IT is without question that the party most opposed to the union between Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Harapan (PH) is none other than MCA.

You would suspect MCA has never been at ease with the idea of this unity government, walking side by side with its once bête noire, DAP.

This is not because MCA would rather sit in opposition, knowing that voters have overwhelmingly rejected BN.

If election mandates really mattered, MCA would have rejected Bersatu’s overture during the Sheraton Move.

As it turned out, MCA’s two parliamentary seats proved to be crucial in propping up the Muhyiddin Yassin government by the slimmest majority.

Alternatively, MCA could have thwarted Muhyiddin’s scheme of bringing down the elected government by threatening to defy Umno and quit.

It could even have recovered its faltering reputation among the Chinese, with no immediate risk of losing seats.

However, MCA’s gambit was to throw its backdoor support to Muhyiddin.

Fast-forward two years and – bound by the restraints of anti-party hopping legislation and BN president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s insistence the coalition will not co-operate with Bersatu – MCA has no choice but to toe the BN line, lest it will lose those two precious seats.

You may even say Zahid dragged MCA forcefully into the unity government.

Since the fall of BN and the withering of Umno, MCA understands too well that there is a line the party could never cross, which is a formal coalition government with DAP.

If that ever becomes a reality, it might be the beginning of the end for the grand old Chinese party in this country.

No one in DAP would care to admit it but – from the manner in which it operates and its machinations, how it connects to its core Chinese voters, and most importantly the speed at which it made peace with Umno – the Chinese-majority party is not hiding its ambition to replace MCA.

Maybe, the process will start when DAP politicians are given more prominence and senior ministerial positions. It is essentially the official Chinese voice in this government, a role traditionally reserved for MCA.

Additionally, MCA’s dilemma is not helped by the speed at which Umno made peace and formed a government with DAP.

It is still a surprise to see how quickly the two enemies buried the hatchet, to the point where Lokman Adam is now praising DAP for being a more sincere political partner than Perikatan Nasional.

Meanwhile, DAP supporters have seemingly forgotten that Zahid is still standing trial for corruption.

Maybe MCA has always feared that Umno would find DAP a more competent Chinese partner.

BN’s consociation model predicates on power sharing between different groups, but since 2008 it has always been the case of Umno doing the heavy lifting, while MCA and MIC only stay politically relevant by drawing on Umno’s electoral support.

Umno is beginning to realise there is indeed a great difference between the DAP it has always demonised and the pragmatic DAP that only aims to obtain power.

Hence, Umno realises that this is a DAP with which the Malay party can do business, and the perfect Chinese party within its consociation model.

If the unity government experiment could provide stability, and Umno and PH are electorally stronger because of that, then the coalition could even continue without MCA.

Instead of a traditional BN, the newly improvised consociation model would mainly involve BN and PH, where the former represents the Malays and the latter the non-Malays.

MCA is currently propping up a government that has the endorsement of more than 90% Chinese but, paradoxically, it cannot even lay claim to democratically earning this support because most Chinese who support this government voted against MCA.

While MCA could be supporting this government with all its heart, the gain and goodwill will mostly be harvested by DAP.

This is perhaps why MCA went behind BN’s back to support Muhyiddin’s bid to become prime minister.

This might seem perplexing for some Chinese, especially given that it would benefit PAS, but it is a political move that at least offers MCA a fighting chance.

Alternatively, the worst-case scenario would have been a forced alliance with DAP, where DAP would take the plaudits for the government’s work on behalf of the Chinese, while deepening its co-operation with Umno.

What pains MCA over this Lunar New Year is that its worst fears have been realised and there is little it can do to reverse them. – January 22, 2023.

* Kenneth Cheng has always been interested in the interplay between human rights and government but more importantly he is a father of two cats, Tangyuan and Toufu. When he is not attending to his feline matters, he is most likely reading books about politics and human rights or playing video games. He is a firm believer in the dictum “power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will”.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.