MCA and MIC have no intention of leaving Barisan Nasional, acting Umno president Mohamad Hasan said today.

He was confident that the ethnic Chinese and Indian-based parties would not ditch BN over their problems with BN secretary-general Nazri Abdul Aziz.

“I don’t think they want to leave BN. They are just concerned with some issues, but they love BN more,” Mohamad told a press conference after the Umno Supreme Council meeting in Kuala Lumpur today.

MCA and MIC released a joint statement earlier this week that they would explore other political options, stopping short of saying they were quitting the coalition.

They expressed unhappiness with Nazri who had allegedly made racist remarks while campaigning during the recent Semenyih by-election.

Nazri’s remarks, which represented Umno, and the party’s failure to address them, had breached the unity of BN component parties, they added.

BN now has only three parties – Umno, MCA, and MIC – down from 13 when the coalition entered the 14th general election last May.

In Semenyih, Nazri had criticised the Pakatan Harapan government over the appointments of non-Malays as attorney-general, chief justice, and finance minister.

He had also said non-Malays should not question Malay privileges, since non-Malays also had privileges, such as vernacular schools.

Following PAS and Umno’s formalisation of political cooperation two days ago, Nazri also said that the multicultural spirit of BN was dead.

MCA first broached the idea of calling for BN’s dissolution at its annual general assembly in December, where delegates passed a resolution adopting this position.

The MCA leadership then wrote a letter to the BN supreme council, asking for a meeting to discuss its resolution.

The meeting has yet to take place. – March 7, 2019.