‘I will pull MCA out of BN if my team wins’

MCA presidential candidate Gan Ping Sieu promised that once his “team” emerged victorious in the party elections, it will immediately pull the party out of Barisan Nasional (BN).

He also pledged that from the next general election onwards, the top two leaders of the party will lead by example by contesting Chinese-majority seats instead of standing in Malay-majority constituencies to rely on Malay votes.

The Kluang division chief, whose running mate is Johor deputy liaison chief Datuk Tee Siew Kiong, said the first thing to do to revamp and reinvigorate MCA is to restore party dignity.

First of all, it must dare to leave BN as Umno is working with PAS and heading towards the right, by swinging further to race and religious politics, he said, adding that it is a matter of principle that MCA leaves BN as the key partner in the coalition has deviated from its original objectives.

“As such, we (Gan-Tee team) hope grassroots representatives would regard the upcoming party elections as a referendum. Once we win, we will immediately pull the party out of Barisan, no dilly-dallying,” Gan was quoted as saying in an Oriental Daily News report yesterday.

He urged party members not to choose to let the party suffer indignity out of fear of losing Umno’s backing, saying in time to come, the multi-party system will prevail in Malaysia, with no single party calling the shots.

He said once MCA regains the people’s confidence and support, it need not worry about not having working partners.

However, he reminded that the party must walk the middle path; return to the politics of the people; engage the civil society, professional and non-governmental organisations; and reconnect with the electorate.

On another note, Gan said MCA will definitely return the political fund it received in the 2013 general election if it is proven that it came from 1Malaysia Development Berhad.