Want more gov't posts? Then work harder, PM tells MCA
Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak today urged Chinese community to support MCA to help the party regain its strength, and so it can be further represented in the government.
He said such give and take is necessary to ensure that there is a sense of social justice in the country.
“You give some, and take some. You cannot take all, you take some.
“If you want more, tolong bagilah lagi (then please give more).
“You want more seats in the government, you increase your support for BN,” he said in officiating the MCA annual general meeting today.
The major BN component party was reduced to winning merely seven parliamentary and 11 state assembly seats in the 2013 general election.
Najib said it pains him to hear people ridiculing MCA as a ‘7-Eleven party’.
However, he is confident MCA can win back the support.
“Let us build on this. Let us tell the people that enough is enough. Now we must rise again, and we can do it. If we stay together, we can do it.
“I believe that together, we can become stronger. It is not impossible, just read the mood of the people,” he told the over 1,700 delegates present at Wisma MCA.
Najib also expressed confidence in MCA President Liow Tiong Lai’s leadership, saying Liow has a clear plan for returning MCA to a position of strength.
He pledged that BN and Umno will continue to work with MCA, as it did since pre-Merdeka times.
‘Support us to get more’
Najib also urged the Chinese community to support him and BN, saying that he needs support in order to do more for the community.
“Otherwise I’ll get hit (by the critics). They’d say, ‘You give them so many things; (but) they don’t support you!’
“So please. Please give your support, and we can achieve even more, and we can do even more together,” he said.
He said he needs the Chinese community as "mainstream partners" in developing the country.
The major ethnic groups in Malaysia must realise, he said, that they must work together under BN to ensure the nation’s success.
“We cannot do it alone. The Malays cannot do it alone, and the Chinese cannot do it alone.
“We must be together, and we must be together in one political union called BN. This is the winning formula,” he said.
Heated Youth AGM
The AGM follows a heated Youth AGM session yesterday, when MCA Youth chief Chong Sin Woon railed against growing racism.
He said the BN coalition is degenerating into a “ racial conflict factory ”.
In contrast, party president Liow Tiong Lai (
photo
) made a
relatively meek plea
to the PM to end racial incidents such as the “
cina babi
” and Chinese vernacular schools attacks during the red shirt rally last month.
However, Najib said MCA is not a "silent partner" in BN and has never failed to bring issues to the fore - whether it is the Bersih rally, the red shirt rally, the Low Yat riot or 1MDB.
“ I can vouch for that. MCA has many opinions, (but they voice it) politely but firmly. In cabinet meetings and in BN meetings, MCA always gives their views…
“ DAP said MCA is a silent partner but there is no such thing. MCA is not a silent partner.
“ MCA works within the system. By working within the system, it is more effective than shouting outside, because when you work within the system, you are more likely to be respected than otherwise,” he said.
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