What’s next for MCA and MIC? To move or not to move?

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 16 – While the election results of six key states had put Umno, touted to be the backbone of the Barisan Nasional (BN) in limbo, the fate of two component parties in the coalition, MCA and MIC, has raised questions.

Umno led by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi suffered a humiliating defeat at the recently concluded polls in six states, only winning a paltry 19 seats from the 108 seats contested. It failed miserably in the Malay belt of Kelantan, Terengganu, and Kedah. It also won a mere two seats in Penang and Selangor respectively and 14 constituencies in Negeri Sembilan.

Malay voters who used to be the party’s fixed deposit deserted Umno at last Saturday’s elections and much of the debacle is blamed on party upper echelon namely Zahid Hamidi, who has corruption charges pending in the courts, and is under immense pressure to resign as Umno president.

It must be noted that Umno was the only party from the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition to contest in the polls following the decision by MCA and MIC to pull out of the contest. BN formed a pact with Pakatan Harapan (PH), made up of PKR, DAP and Amanah after the 15^th General Elections in November 2022. This had to be done as PH on its own lacked the simple majority to form the federal government after the general elections.

One of the reasons for MCA and MIC to pull out of the recent polls is said to be Zahid Hamidi, who had bulldozed a list of Umno candidates to contest in the elections, saying that seats were only for winnable candidates.

XKlusif learnt that MCA and MIC were given two and one seat respectively while all the other seats available were taken up by Umno. This caused the two parties to “boycott” the polls, although they had vowed to support all candidates put up by PH.

These two parties saved themselves from embarrassment with their pullout decision and the move to stay out of the polls was indeed a blessing in disguise for them.

Now, these two political entities have reached a crossroad and must decide on their future, mainly in the BN.

This is because they feel that MCA and MIC were sidelined not only by Zahid Hamidi but also PH, led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

It must be noted that MCA and MIC neither have any representation in the government nor do they have any say in the government decision making process, while Umno is occupying the deputy prime minister position. Their absence from the government had drawn the ire of respective party members and leaders alike who want the party leaderships to chart out a plan to stay relevant in the country’s political landscape.

Options for MCA and MIC

However, all is not lost for MCA and MIC as they have several options to safeguard their respective political survival in the ever-changing landscape of national politics.

For one, they can continue clinging on to the Barisan Nasional coalition with the hope that Zahid and Anwar will provide a lifeline to ensure their political survival. However, by doing so they risk being called “yes men” of Umno and PH in general. They also risk losing relevance by being subservient to Umno if they choose this path.

This will not go down well with their respective party members and supporters as the anger and frustration against Zahid Hamidi is currently at its peak.

Option two would be to pull out of BN and remain neutral in the Dewan Rakyat. MCA has two MPs while MIC has one. Their pull out, however, will not cause a change in the government unless disgruntled MPs from Umno follow suit to ensure Anwar loses his simple majority in Parliament.

This might be a huge possibility and there are quite a few MPs in Umno who have been sidelined by Zahid Hamidi and they might take this opportunity to jump the sinking BN/Umno ship.

Remaining neutral is one but another option would be to become members of the opposition Perikatan Nasional, which had made huge inroads in Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah, Negeri Sembilan and Selangor at the just concluded state polls. This could cause a change in the federal government.

The third option would be to jump straight to PN and become its component. PAS and Bersatu, who are members of PN have over the past month hinted that they would welcome any party which wants to join its pact. The jump would in fact favour PN as it wants to be known as a true Malaysian coalition and the shift of support by MCA and MIC would help PN achieve this aim, at least on paper.

PN also craves non-Malay voter support, and it can be somewhat achieved, if MCA and MIC are brought into the Opposition fold.

Another option would be to kick out Umno of the coalition. Under the BN constitution a member can be expelled if that party had worked against its interest. Expulsion of a member from the BN is based on majority vote and if the three parties, MCA, MIC, and the United Sabah People’s Party, decide to unite in achieving this aim, them Umno would be left out in the cold and would need to fend for itself in future elections alongside PH.

This will pull the rug off Zahid Hamidi’s feet as he would not be leading the BN but only Umno. The ruling coalition would then be PH/Umno and not PH/BN.

Only time will tell which option these two parties would choose for their political survival of the future. – Xlusif