We bungled over Islam, admits MCA

Chinese-only party MCA has admitted that its method of opposing PAS through fear-mongering tactics among the Chinese electorate has worked against it.

“The cause for the defeat of the MCA was corruption, environmental issues and good governance. These were the issues at the heart of the people, rather than the threat of hudud and PAS’s Islamic state,” said the party's youth leader Wee Ka Siong (pic) in an interview with news portal Free Malaysia Today.

Both MCA and its sister Chinese party Gerakan were heavily defeated in the last two general elections, following a major shift of support to Pakatan Rakyat among urban as well as non-Malay voters.

The party had hoped to make a comeback by instilling fear of Islamisation by PAS, a key member of PR. Led by its president Dr Chua Soi Lek, the party went on a campaign blitz, even taking up full page advertisements on daily papers with the tagline “a vote for DAP is a vote for PAS’s hudud laws”.

In his interview, Wee conceded that Chinese voters could no longer be influenced with such a campaign.

“After the general election, I can draw the conclusion that hudud is not a concern and the Chinese are not afraid of this,” he said.

In the May polls, MCA secured 19 out of the total 127 state and parliament seats it contested.

Wee, who retained his Ayer Hitam constituency, said he had avoided playing up the hudud issue during his campaign saying the “Chinese was not afraid.”

Yet Wee has not abandoned the MCA's familiar threat to Chinese voters who support PAS:

“Maybe after PAS takes over the government, then they will think otherwise." -HD