A post-election analysis conducted by the party showed more than 1,000 Chinese votes for BN, but the numbers signalled “only a marginal shift”, he said.

While the results are not encouraging, Wee reasoned it is too much to expect Chinese voters to switch allegiance less than a year after the general election.

“That is impossible to do in just a few months, so MCA must bide its time and take one step at a time.

“MCA has time on its side,” he told The Malaysian Insight in an interview.

MCA suffered a bruising defeat in the May 9 general election, barely retaining a parliamentary seat – Ayer Hitam in Johor – via Wee.

Chinese support for Pakatan Harapan increased in last month’s by-election, but Wee said that could be due to the fact that the DAP candidate, M. Manogaran, had previously represented Chinese landowners in Cameron Highlands in a land dispute.

He dismissed the increase as a sign of approval for PH, and said that to the contrary, the people are increasingly frustrated with the new government.

“There’s a lot of unhappiness. Too many U-turns. People are very unhappy and that the government cannot ignore.”

In the four-way contest, Ramli polled 12,038 votes to Manogaran’s 8,800 to win by 3,238 votes.

The two independent candidates, Sallehudin Abd Talib (314) and Wong Seng Yee (276) lost their deposits.

Wee said the party would serve as a bridge between the newly elected Cameron Highlands MP Rahim Mohd Nor, who is a political newbie, and the Chinese constituents.

“He cannot do it alone. He can only do so much,” he said.

With Chinese support still with PH, Wee said MCA for now would just have to settle for the role of monitoring the government for checks and balances.

“Only in this way will the people gradually see our sincerity.” – February 9, 2019.