MCA is desperately scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas to revive itself and appear relevant after being rejected by its Chinese base in the last general election, said Kedah PKR deputy Youth chief Gooi Hsiao Leung .

NONE Gooi ( left ) said MCA chief Chua Soi Lek's "baseless scaremongering tactics", using PAS to intimidate Chinese voters into voting for Umno is nothing new.

He said this has been used incessantly by Chua's predecessors over the past 50 years, and was clearly shown in 2008 to be no longer effective with the electorate, as voters have matured and are unaffected by BN's scare tactics of using religion and race, including the May 13 episode.

"Chua needs to be reminded that in 2008, Chinese voters across the country overwhelmingly voted for PAS, PKR and DAP as the alternative front, rejecting Umno-led BN's corrupt and racist politics," Gooi told Malaysiakini .

"Chua should instead take heed of former president Ong Tee Keat's Internet poll last year where a majority of its members clearly wanted MCA to pull out of BN," he added.

Gooi, who is also a Kedah PKR committee member, urged Chua to instead concentrate on using all of his efforts and influence on Umno leaders in BN to disassociate themselves from and condemn openly racially inflammatory statements.

He was referring to a statement made by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad putting forward his view that the Chinese should gain more political power in this country until the Malays have gained a fair share of the economy.

muhyiddin yassin pc 170310 He also referred to a comment by Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin ( right ) that Malays must unite for fear of losing political power in the country.

"The real issues that concern Malaysians today are not whether PAS will lead the country, but rather the public demand that Malaysia be sanitised of Umno-led BN's racial politics and corruption once and for all," Gooi said.

Recently, at the Kedah MCA annual convention in Alor Star, Chuahad said that the party has, at most, 18 months to prepare for the next general election.

At the event, Chua had also warned the Chinese community not to be optimistic that once PAS rules as part of the government, the country will be free from corruption and other problems.

He went on to say that some of the most corrupt countries in the world are Muslim-majority countries - but failed to acknowledge that Malaysia, under the Umno-led administration, is already a corrupt nation.

MCA to woo back Chinese voters

The MCA president had personally kick-started a campaign to woo back Chinese voters from Pakatan Rakyat to the BN.

Two weeks ago, at the Kelantan MCA AGM, Chua warned that a PAS leader would become the next prime minister should Pakatan Rakyat win the next general election.

mca disciplinary board 230210 fong chan onn 2 Recently, Fong Chan Onn ( left ), the chairperson of MCA think-tank the Institute of Strategic Analysis and Policy Research (Insap), stated that the MCA had a duty to explain to Chinese voters the ‘hidden picture' of PR should it come into power at the federal level.

According to Fong, MCA will be able to win back Chinese support by explaining two notable points, firstly, that a leader from PAS would be appointed PM because PAS was the best-organised political party compared to its partners, DAP and PKR.

Gooi said it would be equally "ridiculous" to assert that either PAS or any of its partners - DAP or PKR - has the slightest intention to abandon the existing system of parliamentary democracy practiced in the country in favour of Iran's model of government.

"As I'm sure Fong is fully aware, following democratic conventions the PM of our country would be chosen from the party which commanded the most seats in Parliament and not by means of which party had the best political structure," said Gooi.

"As a seasoned politician, one would expect Fong to be the last person to make such laughable statements," he added.