“We have heard the voices of the public and we agree that the party needs internal reforms. The decision to use the MCA’s logo is part of the many reforms that will take place in the near future,” said MCA president Liow Tiong Lai after chairing a meeting with top party leaders today.
“We have to focus on our internal reforms before we can talk about the BN coalition,” he said.
MCA alongside Umno and MIC are the three parties which now make up the BN, after several component parties left the coalition in the wake of its defeat in the May polls.
The Chinese-majority Balakong state seat, under the Bangi federal constituency, fell vacant after the death of DAP assemblyman Eddie Ng Tien Chee in a road accident on July 20.
Liow said MCA needed to re-evaluate the party’s “baggages”.
“We need to re-adjust our own political role and discard our historical baggages. Using our own logo is the beginning of us setting the new direction of our party,” he said.
The party won only one federal seat in the last elections through it deputy president Wee Ka Siong in Ayer Hitam, Johor.
Liow said the decision to use the MCA logo was approved by the Election Commission (EC).
But he said decision did not mean the party would leave the BN coalition.
“We have been part of BN for 69 years. We are not leaving anybody. After all we are the founders of BN.
“BN has played its role in the past. It is time for us to embark on our own journey,” he said.
Meanwhile, MCA vice-president Chew Mei Fun was announced as the Balakong by-election director.
In the May polls, MCA’s candidate Lim Chin Wah got only 5,874 votes, or 10.9% of the total votes cast, while PAS candidate Mohamad Ibrahim Ghazali got 11.6% of the votes. They lost to the late Ng who got 41,768 votes.
Nomination for the Balakong by-election is on Aug 18 and polling on Sept 8.