A collaborative effort between the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH) and Malaysiakini has offered to host a public debate between three MCA presidential candidates.

The forum, titled “How to builld a new MCA”, is scheduled for Thursday evening at the main hall at KLSCAH's headquarters in downtown Kuala Lumpur.

According to KLSCAH CEO Tang Ah Chai, the candidates – Liow Tiong Lai, Gan Ping Sieu and  Ong Tee Keat – have all been notified of the event.

At the time of writing, only Gan has agreed to participate while a response from Liow and  Ong is still pending.

Tang said that the minimum amount of participants needed was two.

The debate was initially mooted by Gan last week and both Liow and Ong have agreed , subject to scheduling, to participate after submitting their nomination forms yesterday.

Gan's one and only mission

Gan accepted the KLSCAH- Malaysiakini offer during a press conference this afternoon.

During the press conference, he also announced that if he is elected, his “one and only” mission is to help MCA improve its performance in the 14th general election.

Noting it is still premature to set a target, Gan said that he would like to see MCA to do better than it did in the 2008 general election, where the Chinese-based party won 15 parliamentary seats and 31 state seats.

“I only have one mission. That is to win more constituencies in the next general election,” he said.

He said having more lawmakers would ensure that  MCA would be able to re-join cabinet.

“No political party, I feel, should want to be part of the ruling coalition yet do not want any platform nor resource,” he said.