Wee Ka Siong Should Stop Sidestepping, and Just Tell Voters the Truth

MCA President Wee Ka Siong in his response to me once again avoided telling us which coalition his party would support in the coming general election.

By doing so, what he actually meant was: let’s wait until after the election. He doesn’t want to tell voters whether a vote for MCA would mean a vote for a Perikatan Nasional-led government.

As one of the strongest advocates for Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan entering three-cornered fights, MCA has the responsibility to clearly explain the broader electoral implications to all Malaysians.

In the 15th general election in 2022, out of the 165 parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia, PH and PN won 71 seats respectively, while BN won 23 seats.

For the upcoming 16th general election, BN has three options:

First, BN can negotiate with PH to avoid overlapping contests. Based on the assumption that the coalition that came second in the 2022 general election would contest the seats won by PN, PH would contest an additional 19 seats, while BN would contest another 52 seats, resulting in a direct one-on-one contest against PN.

Under this arrangement, of the 165 seats in Peninsular Malaysia, PH would contest 90 seats while BN would contest 75 seats.

If PH and BN cooperate, the probable positive election outcome would be relatively predictable.

Second, BN could follow UMNO Youth chief Akmal Salleh’s advice made during the UMNO General Assembly in January this year for BN and PN to form an alliance for the coming GE.

However, PAS under the leadership of Tuan Guru Abdul Hadi Awang is unlikely to agree to share the 71 parliamentary seats won by PN. If BN wants to partner with PN, it would only be able to contest the 71 seats won by PH in 2022.

Since UMNO and PN (PAS, Bersatu, and Hamzah Zainuddin’s faction) position themselves as Malay parties, there will be serious overlap among them. Seat negotiations between BN and PN would therefore be more difficult.

Third, BN could choose to fight everyone. This means contesting against both PH and PN in three-cornered contests across all 165 seats. If this is the case, MCA may indeed be able to contest many more seats, but can BN actually win as many seats as they would like?

Most polls indicate that both PH and PN would each win more seats than BN. If the election results continue to place BN as the coalition with the third-highest number of seats, then BN would have to decide whether to form a government with PH or PN.

For now, we can set aside the unrealistic possibility of BN winning enough seats to form the government on its own. With both the second and third options, the eventual outcome would likely be a PN-dominated government.

Therefore, Wee Ka Siong still has to answer my original question: if the events of 2022 repeat themselves, would MCA once again support PN’s prime ministerial candidate in forming the government?

Wee Ka Siong, stop dodging my question, and just tell voters the truth.