Penyerahan itu juga menjadikan gabungan BN lompang satu sisi apabila penguasaan MCA dalam komponen itu semakin lemah dan dilihat bukan lagi parti untuk semua kaum.
Kelemahan itu lebih ketara apabila presiden MCA Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek sendiri tidak dicalonkan bertanding pada Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13 (PRU13).
Naib Pengerusi Dewan Himpunan Penyokong PAS (DHPP) Pusat Vincent Lee berkata, seperti ada yang tidak kena apabila presiden MCA sendiri tidak bertanding pada PRU yang amat penting bagi MCA dan BN.
"Sesuatu perkara yang agak pelik apabila MCA yang merupakan parti komponen BN yang mewakili masyarakat Cina, tapi presidennya tidak bertanding.
"Adakah MCA tidak percaya lagi pada Soi Lek dan takut beliau akan kalah atau Soi Lek sendiri tidak yakin beliau akan menang? Jadi ini petanda apa? katanya ketika dihubungi Harakahdaily hari ini.
Pengerusi BN Datuk Seri Najib sebelum ini berkata, calon BN yang akan dipilih pada PRU13 ini hanya yang berstatus 'winnable candidate'.
Beberapa pendedahan di internet juga melaporkan beberapa lagi nama besar dalam BN tidak akan bertanding pada pilihan raya kali ini kerana mereka bukan dalam kategori 'boleh menang' yang disyaratkan Najib.
Desas-desus juga menyebut MCA akan memberi beberapa kerusi taradisi termasuk kerusi parlimen Kuantan, Wangsa Maju dan juga Gelang Patah kepada Umno pada PRU13 ini.
Justeru tegas Vincent, perkembangan ini membuktikan masyarakat Cina tidak boleh lagi mengharapkan MCA mewakili mereka.
"MCA sendiri hilang kepercayaan kepada presidennya dan mungkin bagi BN sendiri, MCA tidak lagi memberikan kepentingan kepada gabungan tersebut dan BN sudah tidak menaruh keparcayaan kepada masa depan MCA," katanya.
Sebelum ini, MCA juga telah bertubi-tubi menyerang perkara-perkara yang berkaitan dengan nilai Islam dan PAS, sebagai satu usaha terbesarnya untuk mendapat kembali sokongan kaum Tiong Hua, yang telah menyisihkan parti tersebut pada 2008.-harakahdaily
'Soi Lek a tiger or political eunuch?'...
Following its poor performance in the 2008 general election, MCA is at the crossroad – to take the bull (its rival) by the horns or sink into the road of oblivion.
The current MCA leadership, particularly president Dr Chua Soi Lek, has failed to seize this opportunity to take on Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah.
Lim (left) has taken a bold gamble by thrusting himself into the traditional BN and MCA stronghold.Johor is the backyard of MCA which won seven out of eight parliamentary seats it contested in 2008.
The DAP wrested Bakri, causing a dent. As the MCA president, Chua should seize this golden opportunity to take up this challenge.
By not taking up the challenge, he was sending a negative signal to its senior partner, Umno, and the MCA candidates and general membership.
Being the MCA supremo, he must rise up to the occasion to give Lim the strongest possible resistance.
Chua was reported to have said that he was a winnable candidate.
It is obvious that Lim is trying to create a momentum in the Pakatan Rakyat’s quest to wrest Putrajaya.
The 2008 general election showed that Johor was the last bastion of Umno and BN in Peninsular Malaysia.
Lim’s coattail effect for DAP
This is not the first that Lim has made such a bold move. Previously, he had left his safe seats - Kota Melaka, Petaling Jaya - to make inroads for the DAP in Penang as well as in Perak.
In each case, he had created a coat-tail effect for the other DAP candidates.
It was also true that Lim was not invincible. He was defeated by Gan Boon Leong in a state seat in Melaka.
In Penang, he had mixed results in his quest to wrest the state government. His greatest prize was defeating the sitting Chief Minister Lim Chong Eu in the latter’s stronghold.
He defeated Koh Tsu Koon (right) in Tanjong parliamentary seat.
Perhaps, the lowest ebb of his political career was losing both the state seat (to Koh Tsu Koon in Tanjong Bungah) and Bukit Bendera parliamentary (to Chia Kwang Chye) in the same general election in 1999.
Lim did not fade away. In 2004, he made a come back by ousting the MCA incumbent Thong Fah Chong in Ipoh Timor and the coattail effect helped M Kulasegaran to defeat Ho Cheong Sin in Ipoh Barat.
At 72, one would have thought he would retire as MP for Ipoh Timor. But Lim appears to think he still has an unfinished task to complete.
Gelang Patah was an MCA stronghold held by Johor Wanita MCA chief deputy national vice-chairperson Tan Ah Eng, who is not seeking re-election.
Signal to the Chinese community
It would be a shame that no MCA strongman has the courage to face Lim in the MCA stronghold. It would be a mockery for MCA to get an Umno strongman to defend its own fortress.
What sort of signal the MCA would be sending to the Chinese community?
If the party needs the Umno to defend its stronghold, it undermines the raison d’etre of its existence.
It also becomes an irrelevant partner or liability to the BN just as Italy’s National Fascist Party leader Benito Mussolini’s inability to hold southern front for Hitler in World War II.
A contest between Johor caretaker Menteri Besar Abdul Ghani Othman (left) and Lim may carry an undesirable racial undertone.The Chinese may view this as another attempt by Umno to interfere in the community’s democratic choice of its representative.
A defeat of Lim by Abdul Ghani will perhaps send him to political retirement in a glorious, if not dignified manner. It will further boost the image of the DAP as real champion of the Chinese community.
On the contrary, a defeat of Abdul Ghani by Lim will cause a big dent to the image and psyche of Umno - a very heavy price for Umno for pay.
To either man, it may not matter that much as they have reached the retirement age and they both can look back with pride as they have served their parties and the nation well.-malaysiakini
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