MCA deputy president hopeful Wee Ka Siong believes that the near-term mission for his party is to convince Umno that politics is not always a zero sum game.

NONE In a recent interview with Malaysiakini , Wee ( left ) said that if Umno were to accord MCA with a bit more authority, it will translate into more support from Chinese voters which will benefit both parties and BN as a whole.

He explained that Umno lost several seats by a margin of just 1,000 votes where just a slight increase in Chinese support for BN would have resulted in the coalition's victory.

"If BN can its share of the Chinese vote by 10 percent in the next poll, BN would reclaim few more seats," he said, adding this will not cause Umno to lose its rural support base.

He said that at present, Umno controls about 70 percent of the Malay vote in many constituencies where they won and it was unlikely to go any higher. Thus the party will have to bank on non-Malay voters if they want BN to do better.

The veteran politician, who is one of MCA's seven MPs, said his party needs to change the way they connect with Umno and allow themselves to work effectively on issues related to the Chinese community.

"If 30 to 50 issues out of a hundred brought by MCA can be resolved, (the community) will see our sincerity. Then MCA would be deemed as a powerful party," he said.

According to Wee, Chinese support for BN is currently at 15 percent and he wants to see the figure doubled.

All or nothing

On the recently concluded extraordinary general meeting (EGM) which allowed party members to accept state, local council or village level government positions but not cabinet positions, he felt this had put the party in a bind.

He said being out of cabinet meant that the party were unable to directly address issues faced by the Chinese community that require cabinet level attention, making them an easy target for the opposition.

"To me, shunning government positions is not a big issue. However, we must either take all (federal and lower level) positions or none at all," he said.

During the EGM on Oct 20, the party had, amongst others, voted on two resolutions regarding government positions. The first was on whether party members are allowed to accept national level government positions, while the second involved state or lower level government positions.

NONE Under Dr Chua Soi Lek's helm, MCA had decided during the 2011 and 2012 AGM that party members are not allowed to hold any government positions if the party did worse in the 13th general election than before.

Critics had warned that the move amounted to a threat while Chua ( left ) responded that such a policy was necessary because there was no point having government positions without a mandate from the Chinese community.

Knowing thy place

On being Liow Tiong Lai's running mate, Wee repeated what he has told several Chinese dailies that he will be a loyal deputy if elected and will give no room for spoilers to drive a wedge between the top two.

Wee said that he had enjoyed a long working relationship with Liow since their days in MCA Youth. At one point, Liow was the MCA Youth chief while Wee was secretary-general.

"We have a chemistry. We complement each other. Liow may be softspoken, but he is firm on issues affecting the community," he said.

Wee said that MCA's past troubles had always revolved around the top two leaders because there were those trying to instigating the deputy president against the president.

NONE He said they did so in order to create an opportunity for themselves to rise to power, a scenario he vowed would not happen.

"I know my role as the No 2... This serves as a reminder to everyone of my commitment," he said.

Wee is a far more eloquent compared to Liow ( right ), which has resulted in some observers claiming that the former will outshine the latter, should both be elected to the top two positions.

'I'm sensitive'

Speaking ability is just one of many Wee's many talents. He is also a PhD holder in urban planning and has experienced a colourful political career. However, his Achilles heel has not to do with politics but his reputation, fairly earned or otherwise, of crying in public.

The first major incident happened during the party AGM in 2008. But the most famous incident was in November 2009, following the party's sacking of six members presidential council members affiliated with Liow.

One of them was Wee, who brought on the waterworks during a packed press conference , resulting in a small mountain of soaked tissue paper in front of him.

The latest incident supposedly happened during the Oct 20 EGM.

Newspaper reports claimed that Wee cried after delegates voted against a motion to censure Liow. However, Wee denied this.

"When people surrounded me (that day) with birthday greetings, I felt touched. That's normal," he said.

NONE He said he would cry when watching movies such as the Hollywood blockbuster ‘Titanic' and Taiwanese film ‘He Never Gives Up', but crying is not something he is accustomed to do publicly.

The MCA AGM and elections will be held in two weeks. Thus far, Wee and Donald Lim ( above ) have announced that they will be vying for deputy presidency.