MCA expects to win back lost support among Chinese voters in the coming elections by once again portraying itself as the only party that can protect the community’s interest.

While its leaders appear assured of achieving this, arch-rival DAP and political analysts think otherwise.

They find MCA has not done much to take advantage of the fact that the Chinese community are still angry at Pakatan Harapan for failing to deliver on its promises.

MCA, however, has said it will seize the opportunity to regain lost ground with the Chinese voters by “doing better than DAP”.

Oh Ei Sun, senior fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, told The Malaysian Insight it would be difficult for MCA to get the Chinese vote in the next general election.

“MCA’s return to the government is regarded as an alliance with Islamist parties. It is difficult for the Chinese to accept that because they regard theseparties as radical and extreme representatives,” Oh said.

He said under Barisan Nasional rule, MCA had accepted that the country was led by a single ethnic majority group and striven to protect the interests of the Chinese community.

“This included building Chinese independent high schools, Chinese primary schools and Chinese high schools, or helping Chinese students to fight for public university places, seek their rights and benefits.

“But in terms of national policy, it was still subject to Umno.”

He said the Chinese community also has the impression MCA does not actively fight against corruption.

On the other hand, he said, DAP has a “Malaysian Malaysia” agenda in pursuit of equality.

Though it sounds attractive, at least to the Chinese, Oh pointed out that DAP did not yield much that was concrete to benefit the Chinese community when it was part of the 22-month-old PH government.

This includes the failure to win recognition for the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC), the standard test for Chinese independent high school students.

Oh said in the past three general elections, most Chinese communities had supported DAP and its allies.

He said MCA, as a larger party, has many grassroots leaders but it was DAP which had many elected reps from the Chinese community.

“Most of these DAP MPs are relatively young and aspiring. You will not see corruption among them. DAP has a young image, while MCA is somewhat uneven, giving a stereotype outlook.”

In the last general election, the Chinese community made a total switch of allegiance to PH and DAP, resulting in MCA winning only one federal seat.

All its top leaders, including its president Liow Tiong Lai (in Bentong), lost their seats with the exception of current party president Wee Ka Siong in Ayer Hitam. The party had then won the Tanjung Piai federal seat in a 2019 by-election.

Pollster Merdeka Centre found that more than 90% of Chinese support went to PH and DAP in GE14.

Since then, MCA has seen many changes with a new team of leaders at the helm, and being back in power as part of the Perikatan Nasional federal government which replaced PH in March 2020.

‘MCA can’t do it’

International Islamic University of Malaysia’s (IIUM) assistant professor Dr Lau Zhe Wei said it is quite safe to say that the Chinese vote will go to DAP.

He said that it will be difficult to reverse the community’s voting pattern unless MCA has a special trick up its sleeve.

“The Chinese think DAP is better than MCA. This is difficult to break. MCA can’t do it.”

He suggested that MCA made good use of its current resources and grassroots support to try to recover lost grounds.

“From a psychological point of view, people’s feelings are over there (with DAP). If long-term contacts and relationships are established, people can support MCA.

“But MCA is not interested in doing this. They have been rejected before.”

He added that MCA would find it difficult to persuade voters to turn back.

Selangor DAPSY chief Wong Siew Ki admitted the perception of Chinese voters against PH has deteriorated after the last general election.

She said that the Chinese community may have set high demands on DAP and thought that many issues have been improperly handled.

“Many Chinese voters now, especially after we (PH) became the government, felt resentful towards failed expectations and were impatient for changes. Of course, we have not handled many issues very well. If we are wrong, we must admit it.

“Many would say that we don’t have enough time, but for me, I will not take this reason to cover all issues. We do have areas that we are not doing good enough.”

Despite so, she believes that Chinese voters will still support PH.

PH governance ‘nothing to shout about’

MCA spokesman Mike Chong Yew Chuan meanwhile told The Malaysian Insight that though the Chinese community’s support for MCA has increased, the situation is still conservative.

Chong believes that the results of the Tanjung Piai by-election should not be regarded as an indicator of the return of the Chinese community’s support for MCA.

“Everyone just wanted to punish PH and DAP because of the controversial Jawi issue, the Tunku Abdul Rahman University College funding and the Malay rally. We should not use it as an indicator.”

He believes that MCA suffers from a lot of negative vibes but the circumstances have been explained to the grassroots.

“MCA has to show its performance to convince and win the people’s confidence. It must perform better than Pakatan Harapan. This is the only way.”

Chong said that after PH took power for 22 months, the Chinese community found that their governance was nothing to shout about and left the community sidelined.

“After GE14, many voters realised that the other party (DAP) did not think thoroughly of its actions, and that MCA was not that bad.

“It cannot be said that many voters have returned, but they have become fence-sitters.” – April 20, 2021.