I note that MCA Youth Secretary-General Saw Yee Fung has publicly stated that the decision for Barisan Nasional to cooperate with Perikatan Nasional in the Negeri Sembilan state election was never discussed by the MCA Central Committee, and that the questions she raised have yet to receive any response from the party leadership. This is no longer merely a difference of opinion within the party. It is a matter of MCA’s internal decision making process and whether its leadership is accountable to its members.
The cooperation between Barisan Nasional and Perikatan Nasional in the Negeri Sembilan election is a major political decision that will shape MCA’s future direction. If even the MCA Youth Secretary-General has publicly said that she was not informed beforehand and that the Central Committee never discussed the matter, then grassroots members and the Chinese community have every right to know who made this decision and through what process it was made.
To date, MCA President Wee Ka Siong and Secretary-General Chong Sin Woon have yet to respond directly to Saw Yee Fung’s concerns. They have also failed to explain to party members and the Chinese community why MCA has accepted cooperation between Barisan Nasional and Perikatan Nasional, and what role MCA actually played in making this decision.
What makes this even more puzzling is that in 2018, the MCA General Assembly officially passed a resolution authorising the Central Committee to push for the dissolution of Barisan Nasional and the formation of a new political alliance. MCA subsequently wrote to then Barisan Nasional Chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi requesting a meeting of the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council to discuss dissolving the coalition. At that time, MCA argued that Barisan Nasional’s political direction had fundamentally changed and that its future needed to be reassessed.
Today, not only has Barisan Nasional not been dissolved, it is openly contesting elections in cooperation with Perikatan Nasional, a coalition that includes PAS. Yet MCA’s leadership has not explained to its members or the Chinese community why it once pushed to dissolve Barisan Nasional but now accepts cooperation between Barisan Nasional and Perikatan Nasional. The public deserves to know what has changed in MCA’s political position.
If MCA’s position in 2018 was the correct one, then Wee Ka Siong and Chong Sin Woon should explain why MCA now accepts this cooperation. If today’s position is the correct one, then they should also explain why MCA pushed to dissolve Barisan Nasional in 2018. These two positions cannot both stand without any explanation. MCA’s leadership has a responsibility to give party members and the public a clear account.
In 2018, MCA believed that Barisan Nasional had strayed from its principles and was prepared to push for its dissolution. In 2026, however, MCA has accepted cooperation between Barisan Nasional and Perikatan Nasional, and there are now public questions from within the party over whether the decision was even discussed by the Central Committee. Malaysians have every right to know whether MCA has changed its principles or whether it has simply lost the ability to influence Barisan Nasional’s major political decisions.
I call on Wee Ka Siong and Chong Sin Woon to respond openly to the concerns raised by Saw Yee Fung and to explain clearly to MCA members and the Chinese community what MCA’s political position is today, and whether the party has abandoned the 2018 General Assembly resolution to pursue the dissolution of Barisan Nasional.