KUALA LUMPUR: MCA and the Chinese community are always together, and that relationship is here to stay, says party president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.
While the party has had its highs and lows since its inception, he pointed out that it has never abandoned the community.
MCA was set up to defend and protect the Chinese in the then turbulent Malaya in 1949.
Some 500,000 Chinese faced imminent deportation by the British colonial government in 1950 and it was MCA under its founding president Tun Tan Cheng Lock who came to their rescue and settled them in new villages nationwide.
"We have neither changed nor forgotten our mission and vision in bringing the Chinese and other races together for a harmonious, peaceful and progressive nation, " Liow said when officiating the MCA 69th anniversary celebrations at the party headquarters here on Saturday (March 3) morning.
MCA together with Umno and MIC had fought and gained Independence for the country on Aug 31, 1957.
Earlier this week Umno supreme council member Datuk Seri Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz was quoted by media saying MCA could not represent the Chinese because the party was badly defeated in the last general election, winning only seven parliamentary seats.
He also declared that he is not a friend of MCA.
Nazri had condemned billionaire Robert Kuok earlier this week, calling him a pondan and asking to strip him of his Malaysian citizenship.
MCA has came out to defend Kuok who is highly respected by the Chinese community.
Meanwhile the MCA Youth also staged a protest over Nazri's attack on MCA at the entrance to Wisma MCA here after the anniversary celebration.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Get 20% OFF The Star Digital Access
Cancel anytime. Ad-free. Unlimited access with perks.
