Team B MCA is going to be overwhelmed by Team A in terms of numbers, resources and the support of the Chinese-language media and The Star . But it is not without hope altogether.

Team B must get its act together and step up its lobbying activities. It should call for more fundamental reforms in MCA and the ethnic Chinese. For example, it should align itself more closely with the Chinese education movement, Dong Jiao Zong and make the struggle of Chinese education as its platform.

To give back MCA a sense of dignity, Team B must openly call for the abolition of the Chinese secretariat of the prime minister so that it will not usurp the role, function and honour of MCA as the sole representative of the Chinese Malaysian in Barisan Nasional and government.

Furthermore, Team B should repeat the call to limit the term of top MCA leaders to only three terms or nine years. It should also promise to investigate party accounts and funds.

As to gain support and sympathy of the journalists, especially Chinese-language journalists, Team B should be brave enough to call for the repeal of the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA), and make a public commitment that, if it wins the party elections, it would sign a public statement undertaking not to interfere with the editorial independence of The Star, Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press , which the party owns.

Only by positioning itself on a higher platform as a courageous political reformer  and not a group of frustrated losers  could Team B hope to gain more support and solidarity from MCA grassroots and the ethnic Chinese as a whole.