MCA today came charging out against those who continue to question the party's loyalty to Barisan Nasional over a poll which was carried in its president's personal blog.

The party, which is the second largest partner in the coalition, said that the poll which asked respondents if it should quit the BN was done with the intention to gauge the public feedback after the general election in 2008.

"The opinion poll was conducted over a year ago in the aftermath of the political tsunami that swept Malaysia last general election.

"This was part of MCA's ongoing effort to gather public feedback on issues affecting the rakyat, more so after the March 8 general election," said MCA spokesperson and central committee member Lee Wei Kiat.

He stressed that there was nothing wrong in MCA president Ong Tee Keat putting up the opinion poll in his personal blog.

The matter came to fore earlier last week when Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak was asked to comment on the poll. The premier said the poll was done for academic purposes only and that MCA would remain a senior member of the coalition.

However MCA and Ong quickly came under fire from various quarters who questioned the party's loyalty to the BN.

Umno-controlled Utusan Malaysia and several senior Umno leaders were among the main critics of MCA over the poll.

ong tee keeat mca bn poll As a result, the poll - "Whether MCA should quit BN?" - was brought down but not before about 76 percent said the party should quit the coalition.

Face the truth

Party spokesperson Lee said that it was inaccurate for any quarters to imply that the opinion poll was meant to assert pressure against Umno to cave in to other BN component parties.

He also said that it was foolish for anyone to think that ties between BN component parties could be easily threatened with a simple online poll.

He added that it was in the interest of every component party to find out why many poll respondents felt that MCA should leave BN.

"The poll does warrant the requirement by all BN component parties to comprehend public sentiment and remedy the root causes of BN's poor showing.

"The opinion poll does reveal that BN does not hold the same favourable grounds with the voters as we used to before," he said.

He said that MCA and other component parties should not behave like the proverbial ostrich by burying its head in the ground when in fear, against the reasons that led to voters repudiating BN.

"MCA is taking pains to change and moving forward with the times.

ong tee keat and mca "The main intention of the opinion poll was to gather input and to feel the pulse of the rakyat. MCA respects the views and concerns of voters even if they maybe unfavourable to BN," he said.

He also had harsh words for "a particular Malay-language newspaper" which he said was "stagnated in its old mould of breeding xenophobia against non-Malays or non-Muslims".

"A recent commentary in the said Malay-language newspaper borders on provocation, not only between BN component parties, but against the different ethnicities in Malaysia," he said.

He added that the issues or challenges raised by the said newspaper were created and misdirected.