Although he considers himself the underdog in the contest for the MCA presidency, challenger Chua Jui Meng remains optimistic that he may be able to win via a 'penalty shoot-out'.

Since he announced his intention to contest the party's top post early this month, the MCA vice-president went on a quiet campaign and reportedly encountered some obstacles too along the way.

At a gathering in Kuala Lumpur last night, Chua put on a brave front saying he would not predict he would lose although many had said defeat was staring in his face.

The MCA veteran then compared his chances of winning the MCA presidency to the Liverpool football team winning the European Champions League two months ago..

"In the AC Milan-Liverpool final, Liverpool were considered the underdogs. True enough, AC Milan was leading 3-0 at half time. Disappointed with the score-line, many Liverpool fans had switched off the television.

"However, Liverpool made a miraculous comeback to net three goals and even the score-line 3-3 at full time. In the penalty shoot-out, Liverpool beat AC Milan 3-2. The underdogs won, nobody would have expected such a result," he said to a big round of applause from the 800 people in the audience.

Last night's event, titled 'A dialogue with Chinese community leaders', was organised by Oriental Daily News.

The English-educated Chua delivered his speech and responded in Mandarin throughout the dialogue.

Please be patient

A few participants asked him how he would deal with the controversial acquisition of two Chinese dailies by MCA, the closure of a Damansara school and the language switch policy of using English to teach Mathematics and Science, if he becomes the MCA president.

To the disappointment of the audience, the MCA veep replied, "Nothing is impossible, It is too early to say I will win. Please be patient. We will discuss those issues after I've won."

"A deputy president in the party does not have much power, the vice-president is even worse. So please be patient for 20 more days (to the election). By then, we will know the results," he added.

Another participant questioned Chua why he did not propose the reforms outlined in his election manifesto earlier when he was still holding government position.

"You have been in the party for so long, you are the number three in the party. Why you never talked about all these good proposals earlier? Even if you couldn't suggest them in the party, you could have brought them up in the cabinet or Parliament," the participant reasoned.

In his response, the former health minister said: "I would like to assure all of you that what I want to do today is still not too late."

He also praised the leadership of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and the consultation spirit among Barisan Nasional component parties.

"Malaysian Chinese are lucky today because as long as Chinese leaders are bold enough to speak up for the community, the government is willing to listen to us," he sad, amidst the row over the debates on the revival of the New Economic Policy (NEP).

Learn from Umno

Earlier in his speech, Chua attacked the current MCA leadership for neglecting the welfare of the Chinese community and for its lack of vision when compared with Umno.

"Like it or not, Umno or Umno Youth have their vision and they talk about national affairs in their assembly every time, such as the revival of the NEP. We may not agree totally with them but it shows that they are concerned with the welfare and future of their community," he said.

"Many middle-class and highly educated Chinese have told me that MCA has got no relevance to them and unable to make them respect or join the party," he lamented.

Chua urged the MCA to learn from Umno and said his proposed reforms ranging from economics, education, cultural to politics could tackle the community's teething problems.

Asked at a press conference later on the absence of prominent Chinese community leaders at the function, the MCA vice-president said, "I am used to all this now. The head will not appear but at least some parts of the body and the tail will. That is the fate of a person who is challenging the president."