COMMENT | There are cracks that are appearing in the ruling coalition in the Alor Gajah constituency. Everyone can see that there is hardly any respect among the component parties.

Under the power-sharing agreement, every BN component party has been allocated certain constituencies. This has been the case for many years.

Hence, there should technically be an agreed formula among the component parties, and no sitting president should even interfere with the seat allocations or even choice of candidate for each constituency.

In this case, it has become public knowledge that Wong Nai Chee, who is an aide to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, has been picked to represent MCA in Alor Gajah, although the sidelined incumbent Koh Nai Kwong has the grassroots support.

If I were in Koh’s position, or was among his supporters, I would definitely not be happy. For many years, they had been ploughing the ground – and suddenly, someone parachutes in to enjoy the fruits of their hard work.

Now, that is assuming that Koh has done a lot to win the people’s hearts, and not depended on the votes of Umno supporters to win the constituency.

All that MCA vice-president Wee Ka Siong could do was to try to pacify the grassroots.

That is why I am with Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli, who said if Harapan fielded even a cat in his own constituency of Pandan, the cat would win. This is a reflection of MCA’s “meow” in the presence of a roaring lion.

Despite the decision being imposed on MCA to replace Koh with Wong, neither Wee nor Liow Tiong Lai (photo) had the guts to speak up. Instead, they are taking the “Let’s not cause trouble” approach.

But then how to retain the respect of the Chinese community? How long does the Chinese community want to be suppressed or oppressed in a country that they have made significant contributions to?

Most of the Chinese voters I spoke to appear to have given up hope on MCA. In fact, one of them was asking, “Who is the president now?” I teasingly said, “Ong Tee Keat.”

He said: “Ong is a more reasonable guy. How many others are like him or Lim Ah Lek?” he asked, referring to the former MCA deputy president.

Utusan Malaysia's infamous headline

Is that the reason why MCA is not even being supported by the community it seeks to represent? It has failed the Chinese community for too long, even on the issue of the Unified Examination Certificate in Chinese schools.

When Utusan Malaysia ran its infamous headline, “Apa lagi Cina mahu?” nothing was said by MCA leaders against the Umno-linked paper.

The news did not seem to flash out any bold MCA leader who is willing to speak out against the discrimination that the Chinese community has been experiencing through the years.

I am sure the Alor Gajah story also exists within the Indian community who once supported the MIC. The Indian community may not have been so vocal, especially under the current leadership, but I am sure there is a lot of unhappiness deep down in the hearts of the Indian grassroots.

Can both MIC and MCA interfere with any decision to field an Umno candidate in a particular constituency? Or have they been sycophants for so long that they no longer remember to speak up?

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.