This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on November 14, 2022 - November 20, 2022

THE immediate aftermath of the 14th general election (GE14) was not an easy time to be an MCA member, according to senior party figure Gan Ping Sieu. “It was very difficult for MCA, because you were seen not only as an underdog, but you were [seen] as a dog. People would actually shun you,” he told The Edge when met in mid-October.

But now, things have changed. And the perception that MCA has always had to kowtow to Umno in Barisan Nasional (BN), that it is nothing more than a “poodle to the dai gor (big brother)”, has turned into its strength, said Gan. Rather than a pushover, MCA is seen as a party that can work with others, and is valued as one that can deliver on its promises, he added.

“MCA’s strength, its relevance in politics, is that we can work with other political parties, other ethnic parties. That is a political narrative I think we did not focus on enough in the past. We can even work with Bersatu or PAS, but we have to talk [about] our terms … you have your own aspirations, I have mine, [so] we find a common ground.

“MCA is a party that knows how to find common ground between different ethnic communities [because], like it or not, our heritage, national structure, is identity politics,” said Gan, who once said he would make sure MCA left Barisan Nasional (BN) if he became MCA president, as Umno turned to work with PAS in the immediate aftermath of GE14.

At the time, he reportedly described Umno as having betrayed BN’s founding principles of moderation, racial harmony, equal rights for all and defending a secular coalition.

“I did [advocate for MCA to leave BN]. But that was only half of the story. My Malay friends also asked me whether MCA was going to live on its own. I said not really, [I just wanted us] to renegotiate with our partners … The idea is to be seen as a more transparent and inclusive partnership. Otherwise, where are we going to find our votes? Turn radical? That is not MCA, it is not in our DNA, so it won’t work either. Secondly, we hoped Umno could get their act back together, because if you have a family member who has been leading the family [and] having its own household problems — you’d have to reconsider your own options.”

Gan also admitted retrospectively that “MCA hasn’t got that kind of political capital to do a clean-cut breakaway; otherwise, we would end up like Gerakan”. He also described BN’s political defeat in 2018 as a “good labour pain” for all component parties, as it forced them to learn a better way to work together over the last four years.

Indeed, hindsight is always 20/20. BN, which was left in tatters following its defeat in GE14 after having been in government for 61 years (including its former iteration, the Alliance Party), had managed to wriggle its way back to power following the political manoeuvrings that culminated in the Sheraton Move in 2020, which brought down the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government.

BN then cut a deal with a faction of MPs who defected from PH and participated in the next government under Perikatan Nasional that was led by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in March 2020. Ironically, Gerakan too joined the PN coalition in February 2021. Six months later, BN turned its back on Muhyiddin and regained the Prime Minister’s Office, with Umno’s Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri taking office.

The former deputy minister of youth and sports (2010-2013) thinks the public is now more rational in evaluating the performance of the existing political coalitions after several political upheavals in the past few years.

“Voters are now tired; they feel their votes are not valued anymore by either side. DAP has 42 MPs, they are the biggest force [in Dewan Rakyat], but what have you seen?” he said, referring to the inability of MCA's arch rival to keep PH in power.

Hence, Gan said it is crucial that the next government is one that can provide political stability and prioritise economic growth. “Whoever is in government next, if they cannot ensure stability, eventually not only the economy will suffer, the racial minority will definitely suffer more, especially when you force the hands of opportunists who are racists and the religious extremists to work together.”

Gan also said it is crucial for BN to win at least half of the 165 parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia, before it can convince any potential allies in Sabah and Sarawak to form the next government.

“Hopefully, there will be a clear simple majority, at least more than 125 [seats]. Because even the anti-hopping law has some loopholes. It is not foolproof,” he said, referring to the amendment to the Federal Constitution that bans MPs from party hopping, but does not prohibit individual political parties from pulling out of a coalition after an election.

The BN-MCA candidate in the Kluang constituency in Johor, Gan, a practising lawyer, will be contesting in a four-cornered fight against DAP’s incumbent Wong Shu Qi, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s Dzulkarnain Alias, and independent candidate U Ramendran. This is his second attempt to wrest the seat from DAP after failing to do so in GE14.

In GE15, MCA is contesting 44 parliamentary seats, up from 39 in the last national poll, when the party only managed to secure one — the Ayer Hitam seat in Johor that was won by Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong.

Even then MCA president Tan Sri Liow Tiong Lai was one of the casualties in the political tsunami. Liow stepped down from the presidency after that, prompting a contest for the seat in the 2018 party election between his deputy Wee and Gan. That was Gan’s second attempt for the top post, which he eventually lost to Wee.

Wee then led the party to win the Tanjung Piai by-election in 2019, and gained further ground in the following Melaka and Johor state elections held in August 2021 and March this year respectively, where the party previously lost all state assembly seats it vied for. It regained two seats in Melaka, and four seats in Johor.

MCA is due to have its next party election in the six months after GE15. Gan said he has no plans to run for the top post again. “I have never challenged an incumbent; it is always [when] there is a vacancy, then I go for it. I don’t see a need to challenge an incumbent who is doing very well, and I am sure MCA will recover more seats [under Wee].”

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