Malaysia’s MCA leaders stage walkout at BN’s Melaka polls candidate announcement

MELAKA - Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) leaders walked out of Barisan Nasional’s (BN) candidate-­naming event for the upcoming Melaka state election, saying the party would not accept decisions made without its consent.MCA president Wee Ka Siong said the party felt sidelined after seats it had previously contested were allocated to other parties without proper consultation, despite MCA’s long-­standing role as a BN component party.“MCA cannot be pushed around. How can decisions be made on MCA’s behalf without our agreement when the MCA president is still here?” he said.Wee told the media this after he, MCA deputy president Mah Hang Soon and leaders from six MCA divisions in Melaka walked out of the event at the Melaka International Trade Centre on Oct 24.He said MCA had been informed by BN’s executive secretary at about 9pm on Oct 23 that the event would involve only the launch of the election machinery, with no candidates to be announced.However, after arriving at the venue, Wee was told by party members that candidates were expected to be announced.He later discovered that the programme included a candidate announcement segment and questioned the BN leadership over the change.He said MCA had learnt at a meeting two days earlier that the seats it had previously contested would be allocated to other parties, despite the lack of proper negotiations with the party.Wee said he had raised strong objections and MCA subsequently wrote to BN on Oct 23 to formally express its disagreement with the proposed allocation.MCA’s central political bureau met at 9am on Oct 24 and deci­ded that the party should still attend the evening event as a BN component party.However, the candidate announcement prompted the leaders to walk out.Wee described the situation as unprecedented in his years in politics, saying MCA had not been allowed to discuss the allocation before being told that the seats had been settled.He said MCA had met the other parties only once in Melaka, before negotiations were finalised, and questioned why it should accept a deal reached without its consent.“We are allies, not enemies. If there had been proper discussions and we had reached a decision together, we would have been prepared to share responsibility for it.“Even if you want to make new friends, you should at least discuss the matter with your old friends and long-standing allies who have stood by you for de­cades,” he said.Wee stressed that the walkout was not intended to boycott the event, but to make clear that MCA would not accept decisions being made on its behalf without consultation.He also clarified that the dispute concerned the seat-­allocation process in Melaka and should not be taken as a reflection of MCA’s broader cooperation with BN.He said cooperation at the fede­ral level, as well as seat negotiations in Johor and Negri Sembilan, had been conducted with mutual respect.Wee said the Melaka situation was different because MCA’s state and central leaders had not been properly consulted before the proposed allocation was made.He called on BN’s central leadership to address the dispute.“We still have time before nomi­nation day, and I hope this can be corrected,” he said.Asked whether MCA would withdraw from contesting in Melaka, Wee said the party had yet to make a decision and would assess developments over the next two to three days.In the 2021 state election, MCA contested seven seats – Machap Jaya, Klebang, Ayer Keroh, Kesidang, Kota Laksamana, Bandar Hilir and Bemban – winning Machap Jaya and Klebang. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK