KHAIRY: MAYBE BN NEEDS TO REPLACE MCA WITH ANOTHER CHINESE PARTY
Party appears to have lost touch, says Khairy
REMBAU member of parliament Khairy Jamaluddin has mooted that Barisan Nasional cooperate with new component parties in regaining support from the Chinese.
Khairy said this was because MCA appears to have lost its “touch” in regaining Chinese support for BN since the 12th General Election in 2008.
At the same time, he said, MCA’s attitude that showed its lack of interest in continuing to be part of BN, as well as its unrealistic requests of Umno, including on the cooperation with Pas, needed to be looked at.
“We need (component parties) that can strengthen the party. Maybe we need to have other Chinese component parties since MCA is getting more unpopular.
“Maybe others can enter BN to strengthen our support among the Chinese. If MCA is no longer interested in us, thank you, we will find others.
“If MCA wants to remain with us, it can sit and discuss how we can strengthen BN,” he said after officiating a children’s gymnasium at Melawati Mall here yesterday.
Khairy said this in commenting on the statement by Kluang MCA division chief Gan Ping Sieu, who said leaving BN should be an option for MCA.
This was a show of protest against the cooperation between Umno and Pas since the Sungai Kandis by-election.
Labelling Gan’s suggestion as unrealistic, Khairy urged MCA to focus on strengthening itself instead of pointing fingers at other component parties for its failure to garner support from the Chinese.
“Yes, we are cooperating with Pas, but not in an official framework like what we have in BN.
“In these few years, we are not setting what type of cooperation we are having with Pas. We are still in BN and we want to strengthen it.
“It is easy for MCA to point its fingers at Umno or other parties, but don’t forget, MCA only has one seat in Parliament.
“Yes, there are weaknesses in BN, but don’t forget that MCA, too, must overcome its main problem, which is no longer having the support of Chinese.”
In a separate development, Khairy said he was of the opinion that the best way to manage political funding was by being open and transparent.
“Meaning, any party that receives political funding must follow the law, reveal the source of the donation.
“This is done in developed countries, political donations must be registered and details of who and where the donations came from are revealed to the public,” he said in responding to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s statement that Pakatan Harapan component parties were looking for the best formula to obtain political funding without any elements of corruption present.