Media Statement (2) by Lim Kit Siang in Petaling Jaya on Monday, 3^rd May 2010: 

Are Umno leaders to issue the “Get Out from BN!” order to MCA Ministers if MCA cannot recapture Chinese support?

The New Straits Times headline today 'MCA must prove it can recapture Chinese support' has come as no surprise, considering the utterances and threats which have become the staple diet of some UMNO leaders who are suffering from a terminal denial syndrome refusing to admit that the biggest problem faced by Barisan Nasional post-March 8 political tsunami stem from Umno and not the other BN component parties.

In fact, what is surprising is that the warning had not been made by Perkasa, which seemed to have received the out-sourcing of such chores from Umno, but from none other than Umno Vice President Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein after the general assembly of 30 Umno branches in Cameron Highlands yesterday.

The question is: Are Umno leaders going to issue a “Get Out from BN” order to MCA Ministers if MCA cannot recapture Chinese support?

I myself was surprised to read of the admission by the MCA President Datuk Dr. Chua Soi Lek in the Star last Friday that MCA leaders accept that MCA only had 14% Chinese support in Hulu Selangor at the start of the recent by-election.

May be this is a good stratagem by Chua to show that he had successfully clawed back Chinese voter support in Hulu Selangor from 14% to 25-28% in the by-election campaign, favourably reflecting on his leadership qualities, instead of having to explain why MCA support among the Chinese voters had fallen from 38% in 2008 general election to 25-28% in the by-election!

Be that as it may, will Hishammuddin lead the Umno campaign to issue the “Get Out from BN” order to MCA if MCA cannot recapture Chinese support?

Has Gerakan been issued with a similar warning from Umno leaders to recapture Chinese support or faces the consequence?

If MCA had only 14% Chinese voter support in Hulu Selangor at the start of the by-election, what is Gerakan’s Chinese voter support? One or two percent?

Only Gerakan leaders will know whether they have received such warnings from Umno, although the Gerakan President Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon is publicly preparing the ground for an Umno Chief Minister to be installed in Penang – i.e. if Barisan Nasional topples Lim Guan Eng as Penang Chief Minister and the Pakatan Rakyat Penang State Government.

MCA National Vice President and Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai has recommended in his twitter an article by Tan Siok Choo on “Umno-MCA relationship was more than gratitude’.

Siok Choo writes about her grandfather Tun Tan Cheng Lock and father Tun Tan Siew Sin. Nobody, would have believed that Cheng Lock or Siew Sin would have tolerated any “MCA must prove it can recapture Chinese support” nonsense from any Umno leader – raising the question the different calibre in the MCA leaderships of today as compared to its founding generation.

Now, the MCA leadership have their hands full just coping with the Umno out-sourced outfit, Perkasa, not to mention the lordly pronouncements and warnings from the Umno national leadership!

*Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary Leader & MP for Ipoh Timor