Liow urges MCA members and Chinese community to unite

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malays will continue to be the dominant party in the Government irrespective of the outcome of the general election, says MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.

In highlighting the political reality, he urged party members and the Chinese community to unite and return MCA - Barisan Nasional's second largest component party- to a big victory.

The Barisan coalition, he added, has a track record in building the moderate multi-ethnic country since Independence.

The absence of a good representation from the Chinese, he pointed out, would not augur well for moderation in the country.

Liow said MCA and the Chinese community have been existing as one since the party's inception in 1949, he said, adding that the party would not give up on the community.

He said the party would continue to fight for a moderate and a progressive nation for all Malaysians.

While the MCA had lost badly in the last two elections, Liow said the party had never shirked its responsibilities towards the country.

However, he pointed out that the party had reached a stage where it had to make a comeback in order to continue to play its role.

"We need a bigger representation in the Parliament and a louder voice in the Cabinet to continue to preserve and fight for our rights and interests in the country.

"There is no more room for us to retreat," he said when launching the MCA manifesto for the 14th General Election at the party headquarters here on Sunday morning.

MCA suffered huge defeats in the last two elections, winning 15 parliamentary seats in the 2008 election, and down to seven in the last round.

The party had won 30 parliamentary seats in the 1995 election - its peak performance.

At the MCA annual general assembly in November last year, Barisan Nasional chairman and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had challenged the party to win at least 15 parliamentary seats this round.

Liow said the party had suffered much humiliation after the last election, and it is time for members to unite and return the dignity to the party.

The president's hour-long speech during the launch of the manifesto received several rounds of applause from some 3,000 party grassroots besides shouts of "zhan, zhan, zhan" (war in Mandarin) and stronger together.

Liow said the DAP in Pakatan Harapan has proven that it is incapable of playing an effective role in defending the Chinese community after receiving huge support from them in the last two elections. 

The DAP won 38 Parliamentary seats and 96 state seats in the last polls. 

Liow said the DAP's all out bid in trying to wipe out MCA this election only goes to show that it does not care about the future of the Chinese community.

Calling DAP an opportunist, Liow chided the Chinese-based Opposition party for not using its logo for the first time this election.

Using the words "Lao ma cong zheng, huo zen bu jian" (when the old horse returns, the rocket disappears), Liow highlighted how the DAP's rocket "succumbed" to Pakatan Harapan chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, just to win Malay votes.

DAP's Lim Kit Siang is widely  known to have condemned  the former premier-turned Pakatan Harapan chairman for decades.