SINCE their first election drubbing in 2008, MCA and MIC have been on a political downward spiral.

The long-time Umno allies have since been trying to reinvent their identity, but with little success.

MCA’s waning fortunes have stagnated at two parliamentary seats and seven state seats. Meanwhile, MIC has a solitary MP and six assemblymen.

It gets worse, because only three of these state seats ‘belong’ to MCA and MIC, the lion’s share are Malay-majority seats given up by Umno.

Their main rival-turned-ally DAP dwarfs this, with 40 parliamentary and 91 state seats. 

In the previous administration, MCA and MIC had the expanded role of representing the peninsular non-Muslim community, a role they played by a stretch, and therefore enjoyed many political appointments, even a disproportionate five senators.

Even though DAP’s role in government has been reduced (compared to 2018), largesse dished out to MCA and MIC will likely be cut.

This effectively leaves little for either party to do at federal level, even in most states.

The present status and survival of these parties is solely due to their social, rather than political role.

Both MCA and MIC run their own universities and media companies. They both have their own holding companies held in party trust, which in turn own many assets and corporations, some of which are even listed.

This effectively means the parties do not need donations, which trickle and flow depending on the political mood of the day.

The survival of both parties lies more in the ability of the societies they represent to relate to them, or their political relevance.

MIC and MCA represent only a single community each, and are largely perceived to be parties run by the business or ‘towkay’ community.

Despite the business community largely moving on to other sources of political power – leaving more professionals to fill the gap – this perception largely remains.

The second issue is that the Indian and Chinese communities are shrinking proportionately, and the number of corresponding majority seats are reducing.

Constituencies are becoming multi-ethnic, especially in semi-urban areas.

DAP leaders have noticed this trend and built their Malay base accordingly, resulting in PAS and (previously) Umno’s pushback.

However, MCA and MIC didn’t respond quickly enough, losing plenty of ground to DAP.

Moving forward, the two parties have several options at this point.

The first is to maintain the status quo, and focus on social and community work, the bulwark of their branding so far, and attempt to shore up support through goodwill.

This takes time and may not even work as Malaysian politics tend to be emotive.

Relying on their long track record of service has also proven ineffective for the past couple of elections.

This move would entail not rocking the boat and conceding seats to the DAP, seats that they may never recover.

The second is to step away from Umno and DAP. This would probably be best, as they would regain their political independence and be able to take a position that could win back support from their respective communities.

However, if they choose to join another alliance, they will again become beholden to whichever Malay dominant party leads that coalition.

The final option from stepping away is to serve as a check and balance from within the unity government.

They could do this as a third party outside both blocs, while maintaining support for the government.

This is a risky move, but would enable MCA and MIC to stand in the upcoming state elections against their own allies, and could either increase their stake and bargaining power from within the government, or alienate it completely.

This would serve as a strategic move in preparation for the next general election and keep the respective party cadre’s morale intact but could also be a devastating failure.

More drastically, they could even merge to create another richer, and perhaps more relevant party within BN.

Whatever they choose to do, MCA and MIC need to consult each other and consolidate, or risk losing further relevance. – January 18, 2023.

* Emmanuel Joseph firmly believes that Klang is the best place on Earth, and that motivated people can do far more good than any leader with motive.

* 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.