REGAINING the support of the Chinese electorate would be an uphill climb, former MCA deputy president Ti Lian Ker said, following the party’s disastrous performance in elections.

Ti said MCA has very little political influence now.

“It’s not what it used to be. We don’t even have cabinet representation.

“No ministerial position. How to sway the electorates when we don’t have any influence?” he told The Malaysian Insight.

“MCA not too long ago has already been dismissed as irrelevant. Now it’s even more so,” Ti said.

He said the two seats the party won in the last general election were won with help from Umno’s Malay voters, not the Chinese voters.

MCA is still a loyal member of the Umno-led Barisan Nasional coalition.

It stayed on while many others abandoned the bloc after it lost the 2018 general election.

Ti said by staying on and with the party’s stand on thorny issues, particularly racial ones, it gave the Chinese electorate the impression the party was kowtowing to Umno.

The unfortunate thing, Ti said, was MCA’s failure to make the Chinese electorate understand why it made those compromises.

“Our core political fight has always been on Chinese education, the welfare, and economic interests of the Chinese.

“MCA has done well in these areas, but we still don’t get the support of voters. It’s because of our relationship with Umno.”

Ti said if MCA were to speak publicly on “very sensitive issues”, they could be distorted into racial issues.

“The Malays, the divisions among Malay political parties, the constitution, and the Malay rulers must all be taken into consideration.

“That’s the political reality, and we have to be pragmatic.”

That stand, Ti said, did not jive with the Chinese electorate.

As for whether MCA has a chance to make a comeback in the next general election, he believed it would depend on the country’s stability and its economic situation in four years. – December 26, 2023.