KUALA LUMPUR: MCA has signed an Archives Management Agreement with Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), paving the way for the systematic preservation, organisation and digitisation of the party’s historical records.
Under the agreement, UTAR will be responsible for managing MCA’s key archival materials. The signing ceremony, held at Wisma MCA, was witnessed by representatives from the political, academic and media sectors.
Project initiator Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun said her experience in politics and academia had highlighted how fragmented and inaccessible many domestic historical records have become.
She noted that the private archives of several key figures in Malaysia’s nation-building – including Tun Tan Cheng Lock, Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman and Wong Pow Nee – are currently kept in foreign institutions, creating practical challenges for local researchers.
“Without systematic archival preservation and access mechanisms, historical research cannot present a multi-angled and complete picture,” she said.
Chew said MCA’s decision to entrust its archives to UTAR for professional management would help build a stronger and more reliable foundation for scholarship on Malaysian history.
She added that MCA and UTAR would establish a joint working committee to advance archival management in stages and provide training for MCA staff on archival preservation.
Chew also expressed hope that UTAR would grow into a key platform for the preservation and study of important historical archives, offering first-hand materials to researchers and gradually advancing local historical research.
MCA secretary-general Datuk Chong Sin Woon signed the agreement on behalf of the party, while UTAR president Prof Datuk Dr Ewe Hong Tat signed on behalf of the university.
Prof Ewe said UTAR has set up a professional archives management team led by Chew, bringing together experts from the Tun Tan Cheng Lock Institute of Social Studies, the university library and its information technology unit.
The team will organise, catalogue, preserve and research the archives, with the long-term goal of developing a resource centre that collects materials from all ethnic communities.
Prof Ewe added that UTAR will employ artificial intelligence and high-precision digitisation tools to convert physical archives into digital formats.
MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong and UTAR pro-chancellor Tan Sri Wong See Wah were also present to witness the signing ceremony.
