MCA deputy publicity chief Loh Seng Kok said the DAP’s win in the country’s largest state would harm the Chinese community there in the long run.
“The actions of DAP in implementing their policy of preventing Barisan Nasional (BN) from winning seats in the Sarawak state elections by calling themselves a multi-racial party is false, as their party’s struggle has always been tilted along racial lines,” said Loh in a statement today.
“By stirring up the emotions of Chinese voters and creating confusion among them so that DAP can garner more votes for themselves, it is obvious that DAP and its compatriots cannot provide substantial contributions to the local Chinese community there,” the MCA central committee member added.
The DAP doubled its presence in the Sarawak state assembly from six to 12 seats in the election last Saturday, nearly wiping out its rival Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) in Chinese-majority seats where the latter only won in two seats.
Loh noted that only a power-sharing concept among various ethnic groups could safeguard the interest of all Malaysians.
“MCA will not give up our political responsibility to the Chinese community. Since our establishment, MCA has remained consistent in our outreach to multiracial Malaysians,” said Loh.
MCA vice president Gan Ping Sieu has urged Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud to quit as Sarawak chief minister as he has lost the support of the Chinese community there.
The DAP had capitalised on the growing anti-Taib sentiment among Sarawakians in its campaign by telling constituents that SUPP did not represent the Chinese community, but BN’s “corrupt” Taib.
The anti-Taib sentiment is reputedly the reason behind the BN’s loss of 16 seats in last Saturday’s Sarawak state polls.
Even SUPP president and deputy chief minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan lost his Piasau seat to a DAP newcomer.
SUPP’s defeat parallels MCA’s decimation in the 2008 general elections when the latter saw its parliamentary representation cut by half from 31 to 15 seats.
Taib, who leads Sarawak BN, helped the ruling coalition win 55 out of 71 state seats — or 77 per cent of the legislative assembly — in last Saturday’s Sarawak state election.
His party, Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), won all 35 seats it contested.
