BARISAN Nasional chairman Najib Razak has thrown the gauntlet at MCA, challenging its oldest coalition partner to win at least 15 federal seats to justify its number of cabinet posts.
Speaking at MCA’s 64th annual general assembly, Najib reminded the Chinese party that it only has seven MPs now.
“But if you have 15, you’ll be a lot stronger in the government,” the prime minister said this morning.
“Tell the Chinese community: Do you want a strong or weak representation in government? The choice is yours,” he said .
He said DAP cannot form the government even if it won the bulk of the Chinese votes as in the previous elections in 2013.
“Tell the Chinese community, DAP cannot form the government.
“(The) reality is in the last election even though they won big they cannot form the government.
“They cannot do better than the last elections. They cannot.
“Even if they did as good as the last elections they still cannot form the government,” said Najib, who is confident that BN would win the 14th general election, which must be held by next August.
MCA suffered its worst electoral defeat when it only won seven out of the 37 federal seats and 11 out of the 90 state seats it contested in 2013.
In 2008, it did slightly better – winning at least a third – 15 out of the 40 parliamentary seats and 32 out of the 90 state seats it contested.
Prior to that, MCA had always been able to win more than half of the federal and state seats it contested since it first competed in the elections in 1959, except in the 1969 elections and 1990 elections where it still won more than a third of the federal and state seats contested.
Najib said with just seven parliamentary seats it won in 2013, MCA should only have had one Cabinet post.
“I had to consider giving additional (cabinet posts) to MCA.
“With just seven parliamentary seats, you cannot get three ministers. You cannot. You shouldn’t have,” Najib told the MCA central delegates.
“But we did it, we wanted to show that we listened to the Chinese community.
“But please give us your support. You cannot have everything your way.
“You want (Chinese vernacular) schools, you want this, you want that, but don’t give us your votes,” said Najib.
Currently, MCA president Liow Tiong Lai is the transport minister, MCA deputy president Wee Ka Siong is a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department while MCA secretary-general Ong Ka Chuan is the second minister of international trade and industry.
He said the Chinese community should not complain about government allocations given to the Malays or other ethnic groups because they voted for BN.
“Umno got the strongest representation and won more seats (in the last elections),” he said.
He said if Chinese voters expect more from the government, then it must vote for BN.
MCA’s highest number of parliamentary seats was won in the 2004 elections, when it took 31 out of the 40 seats it contested.
In the last elections, MCA only managed to win seven out of the 37 seats it contested. – November 5, 2017.