After suffering great losses in the last general election, MCA is now collecting feedback from the grassroots, members of the public and NGOs on how to revamp the party, said MCA deputy president and MCA transformation task force chairperson Liow Tiong Lai.

NONE Liow ( left ) said the party will collect opinions from the masses for three months and compile them into a transformation blueprint, which will be done for the first time in the party’s history.

The blueprint will be endorsed by the party’s central committee and annual general meeting on Dec 21, where the central delegates will debate the matter, and it will later become a guideline for the MCA to implement, he said in a press conference today.

MCA contested 37 parliamentary seats and 90 state seats in the last polls, but won only seven parliamentary seats and 11 state seats.

The task force led by Liow was tasked with conducting a post-mortem over the defeat and come up with suggestions in tranforming the biggest Chinese party in Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Liow said the five-member task force has completed a study tour to Taiwan, to learn from the revitalising experience of the country’s Nationalist Party (Kuomintang), which lost power in Taiwan’s elections in 2000 but which later made a comeback.

Describing the trip as “meaningful”, he said the task force learnt how the Kuomintang had revamped and “slimmed down” after the defeat, and how it conducted direct elections for the party president’s post.

A total of 14 closed-door dialogue sessions will be held nationwide to gather feedback from the grassroots through a roadshow from June 17 until July 13.

Liow said the party will seek NGOs’ input through a seminar organised by MCA, and the public are welcome to send in feedback to transform@mca.org.my .

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