Selangor MCA chief Donald Lim Siang Chai appealed to voters in the state not to wipe out the party from Selangor as it has been working hard to serve the people in the past five years, despite being badly defeated in 2008.

“Although the voters had rejected us (MCA) in the last general election, we still carried on with our service.

“I hope the people will give us some votes. Don’t make us eat egg,” Lim said in an exclusive interview with Oriental Daily News .

MCA contested seven parliamentary and 14 state constituencies in Selangor in the 2008 general election but won only one parliamentary seat (Pandan) and two state seats (Sungai Pelek and Kuala Kubu Baru).

Lim, who is also an MCA vice-president and deputy finance minister, told the daily that Selangor has the highest number of MCA members among all the states, making it a potential strength for BN to recapture Selangor in the 13th general election.

However, the 260,000 MCA members in the state have become a hidden worry as it was evident that most of them did not support the ruling coalition in 2008.

“We have doubled our efforts to urge MCA division leaders and candidates in the state to pay attention to the votes of party members and strengthen their grassroots links, to ensure that grassroots members will vote for candidates from MCA and other BN component parties.”

As at Aug 31, 2012, MCA had 22 divisions, 1,023 branches and 259,525 members in Selangor.

Asked the reasons for the lukewarm support from its own members, Lim opined most of them made up their minds at the last minute after evaluating various factors, including national issues and candidates, as many of them were highly educated voters.

‘Forty percent fence-sitters’

According to his analysis, in areas where there are many highly educated voters, the ruling parties and the opposition both control 30 percent of the votes respectively, leaving 40 percent fence-sitters.

“These 40 percent voters want to see the political scenario, national economy, leadership of the prime minister, policies of the federal government, leaders of political parties and quality of the candidates, to decide their vote.

“Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has introduced a series of political and economic transformation programmes that can win the minds of the fence-sitters,” Lim is quoted as saying.

He added that Najib’s decision to take over as Selangor BN election director showed that BN was confident in winning back the state.

On MCA’s chances in Selangor, Lim said besides Sungai Pelek and Kuala Kubu Baru, MCA has high hopes in the coastal areas, including Sekinchan, Kajang and Pandamaran.

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