Rethinking The MCA's Position In BN

A Kadir Jasin

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UNLESS whatever is left of the MCA leadership is able to patch up the fractured and tattered party in a reasonably short period, it’s advisable for the Barisan Nasional to seriously think of an alternative.

There isn’t much time left for the BN to rebuild. Here lies the next serious challenge for Umno being the dominant member of the 13-party coalition.

While the newspapers today reported that the Prime Minister, Mohd Najib Abdul Razak, would meet the squabbling MCA factions in a bid to seek a solution to the worsening crisis, the rethinking of the whole BN equation remains relevant.

Apart from rebuilding its own strength, Umno has to shoulder the task of nursing the whole front back to health if it hopes to reverse its fortune in the 2013 general election.

Umno’s own recovery is, at best, tentative. Although the power transfer at the top had been affected, lower down the command chain, recalcitrant and pig-headed leaders continue to cause havoc. The costly truancy of its former Kota Siputeh State Assemblyman, Abu Hassan Sarif is a case in point.

With or without the solution to the MCA crisis, Umno leadership must to start to thinking seriously about what do to with the non-Malay representation in the BN.

Understandably Umno does not want to be seen to be lording over its non-Malay partners. In the case of the MCA, any sign that Umno is forcing its will on the party will further perpetuate the Chinese voters’ perception that the MCA and Gerakan are being subservient to UMNO.

Yet if the BN wishes to recoup its losses in the Peninsula, it needs stronger MCA and MIC. I am deliberately leaving the Gerakan out of this scenario because the Penang-based party is even weaker than the MCA.

In fact after being booted out of Penang in last year’s general election after 39 years of reign, the Gerakan’s future is questionable. It might have outlived its relevance and could go down the same sad road as the Ipoh-based PPP several decades ago.

One analyst noted soon after the 2008 general election that for the Gerakan and PPP, the key question is whether they should continue to exist and if so, what is their niche in Malaysian politics.

Umno cannot hope to maintain its leadership position if it fails to assist its non-Malay partners in the Peninsula to regain strength. The battle will continue to be here in the Peninsula.

At the same time it has to strengthen ties with the Sarawak- and Sabah-based coalition parties who hepled thwart the fall of the BN in the 2008 GE. Out of 140 seats won by the BN, 54 came from Sarawak and Sabah.

In the worse case scenario, the BN must entertain the unpalatable thought that the Chinese might not be too desperate if the MCA fails to recover. They may not be spoilt for choice, but they certainly have more choices than the Malays.

A substantial chunk of Chinese voters has always been with the DAP. Some are still committed to the nominally multi-racial Gerakan. But more could be looking towards the multi-racial PKR if the Pakatan Rakyat looks like a good long-term alternative to the BN.

This, however, does not deny the fact that the opposition parties too have their share of inter- and intra- party problems given their vast ideological and policy differences.

The Umno supporters too may not take too kindly to their leaders being reticent about the goings-on in the sister parties because at the end of the day, Umno will have to cede some Malay majority seats to its Chinese and Indian partners. In the 2008 GE many such seat were lost to the oppositions.

So it’s time for Mohd Najib who is BN Chairman to cease playing safe. This is his chance of taking the bull by the horn or risk having the BN's posterior kicked in the coming general poll.

He does not have to mediate in the full glare of the spotlight. Surely as Prime Minister and head of the BN he has other ways and means of bringing peace to the squabbling MCA and other BN parties.

If his late father, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, could bring together parties of diverse interests and regional affiliations to form the BN in the aftermath of May 13, 1969 racial riots, it is incumbent upon Mohd Najib to breathe the life back into the faltering coalition.

Failing which history will judge him harshly.