MCA, which saw its worst electoral losses in the last general election, says it is beginning to see positive responses from voters in towns and villages.

However, MCA secretary-general Ong Ka Chuan conceded that engaging city folks remains a challenge.

He related this experience based on MCA's programme to engage voters to seek their feedback.

"Urban dwellers generally have a higher standard of education. When meeting voters who are professionals, the education level of our party workers may not be able to match them.

"Therefore it is hard for our party workers to convince them," he was quoted as saying by Bernama.

Ong was delivering his opening speech at the 42nd MCA Wanita Annual General Assembly held at Berjaya Times Square in Kuala Lumpur.

Ong said in order to overcome this, MCA may need to send party workers with specialised knowledge to engage with professionals in urban centres.

Elaborating on the matter, MCA Wanita chief Heng Seai Kie (photo) said when party workers sought feedback in urban centres, they were not only ignored but sometimes faced abuse.

Heng said the public should take the opportunity to engage with MCA and express their what they want the government to do.

Touching on the upcoming general election, Heng pointed out that 50.4 percent of the country's voters comprise women.

As such, she said if the 460,000 MCA Wanita members could convince at least five voters each to support MCA, they would collectively make up close to three million voters.

On another development, Heng said the wing had launched a new mechanism, known as the Jaringan Rakyat Plus (JR Plus) since last May in the bid to serve people better.

“JR Plus acts a bridge to connect the grassroots to the government. It helps to determine their level of livelihood and should they need any aid. This (information) will be given to the appropriate channels or agencies to assist them.

A total of 1,219 out of the 2,073 Wanita delegates attended the annual meeting this year.

-  Bernama