Tang Ah Chai, who has written extensively on various aspects of Malaysian Chinese life and who once served as president of the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, told FMT he believed the time had come for MCA to stop relying on its former leaders to bring it back to political relevance.

He was commenting on former MCA president Chua Soi Lek’s announcement that he would not come out of retirement despite having been urged by some party members to contest in the coming presidential election.

Tang said he welcomed Chua’s call for new people to take over the MCA leadership.

“It’s not suitable for Chua to take charge of MCA again, especially now that the party is in the opposition and needs to revamp itself after its failure in the May 9 general election,” he said.

He noted that Chua, when he served as president, failed to ensure that MCA perform well enough in the 2013 general election to win back the seats it lost in the 2018 polls.

The party suffered an even worse defeat last May, winning only the Ayer Hitam seat in the parliamentary contests.

At a press conference yesterday, Chua said he would endorse former senator Gan Ping Sieu for the MCA presidential contest and would back his former political secretary, Tee Siew Kiong, in the contest for deputy president.

The former health minister also said the current MCA leaders who held Cabinet positions in the previous government should not contest in this November’s party polls because of the general perception that they carry political baggage.

Tang said Gan and Tee could make use of Chua’s influence at the grassroots level to seek support from the 20,000-odd divisional leaders who will vote in the party polls.

“If they win, maybe Chua will be given a special position in the party, like an adviser,” he said.

Former MCA vice-president Yap Pian Hon welcomed Chua’s endorsement of Gan and Tee, saying the party needed people like them to introduce ideas for reform.

He said the current deputy president, Wee Ka Siong, should focus on his role as the only MCA representative in the Dewan Rakyat.

A party member who declined to be named questioned Chua’s endorsement of Gan.

“When Chua was president, he did not choose Gan as a candidate for the 2013 election because he lost his state seat in 2008,” he said. “If he had no confidence in him then, why is he now saying he supports him for a leadership position?”