Political analyst Mohamed Mustafa Ishak told FMT, component parties must understand that the ultimate goal of elections was about winning and these parties must be open to the idea of seat swapping.
He was commenting on the proposal made by Bandar Tun Razak Umno Division Chairman Rizalman Mokhtar that Umno be given the Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary seat in GE14 instead of MCA.
Mustafa, who is Head of the Political, Security and International Affairs Council with the National Council of Professors, said MCA still had trouble in gaining the public’s support.
“If they stand against DAP or PKR and they lose, what is the point?” he said, adding it would be a better strategy for Umno to contest instead if it stood a better chance.
However, Mustafa stressed that it must be a seat swap and not just Umno taking over a seat traditionally contested by a BN component party as MCA and other component parties would be opposed to it.
“Perhaps Umno could give MCA a safe seat and this would actually be beneficial for MCA as it would have a better chance of increasing its representation in Parliament.”
UKM political scientist Associate Prof Faisal S Hazis said that Rizalman’s suggestion was not a bad one so long as it was not about being dominant.
He said political parties should go beyond racial considerations, adding political parties should not contest in areas only where certain races were the majority.
“It is good for Umno to contest in non-Malay seats as they will have to step up their game and fight for issues affecting all Malaysians,” he said, adding it was the same for MCA and other component parties.
“It should be about breaking the walls of race-based appeal,” he told FMT.
He said if race was not a consideration for seats, then the candidate and the party’s track record would be the main consideration.
“If the spirit of equality is practised, then component parties would have to work harder if they want to represent their coalition in a certain seat.”
Earlier yesterday, after Rizalman made his proposal, Umno Youth Chief Khairy Jamaluddin said he would support the suggestion, and said new arrangements – subject to a “give and take” principle – could be made.
In the battle for Bandar Tun Razak in GE13, MCA’s Tan Kok Eng stood for BN against then PKR’s Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, the former Selangor menteri besar, who is now an independent MP.
Khalid grabbed 56.4% of the votes. The constituency had 53 per cent Malay voters, 37 per cent Chinese voters and nine per cent Indian voters.