CALONKINI | As a young professional, Lee Yee Yuan is perhaps going against the grain by being in MCA.

Educated at the University of Melbourne, the 29-year-old architecture graduate is slated to be the MCA candidate for the Selangor state seat of Sekinchan in the 14th general election.

This comes at a time where youth support for the opposition is seen to be on the rise, while MCA, in particular, is facing a popularity crisis.

The last election saw the party register its worst-ever results – winning just seven parliamentary seats and 11 state seats – following a significant swing of the Chinese vote to the opposition. This sparked comments that MCA does not represent the voice of the Chinese community anymore.

Lee, who hails from Chinese-majority Sekinchan, acknowledges such sentiments, but believes they are not shared by locals in his hometown.

“Local people who live here are actually quite ok with MCA... they feel we really help them, like we have members who serve as translators for villagers who can’t understand Malay when filling up official forms. Locals are more concerned with local issues.

“We lost the last time (in 2013) because the younger people who came home from other places to vote were influenced by social media and national issues.

“We can’t help with that, but we hope their parents will tell them what is happening here (in Sekinchan) this time,” he said at a recent interview with Malaysiakini.

Homeboy approach

Since receiving MCA president Liow Tiong Lai’s blessing for the seat, Lee has quit his job as an architect and moved home to live with his father Lee Ah Lek, a retired headteacher who now heads the party’s Sekinchan Damai branch.

As a child, he would follow his father to party events and many of his friends' parents were active in the party. He later joined MCA himself as a member when he was 18.

“I was curious and wanted to know what was happening in the country. I thought by joining I would have access to forums and information,” said the soft-spoken Lee.

Fast forward to GE14, which will be his first foray into politics. He fully acknowledges being the underdog against DAP’s Ng Suee Lim, the incumbent three-term assemblyperson. Ng, who is widely credited for Sekinchan’s recent tourism boom, is slated to seek a fourth term.

Avoiding a combative stance against Ng, Lee has instead chosen a decidedly non-political, earnest 'local boy' approach to his GE14 campaign.

For example, he launched his manifesto for Sekinchan on a fishing jetty wearing a T-shirt printed with the catchphrase, 'My Home, My Dream'.

Missing were party flags, logos and fiery political speeches usually expected at election campaigning events.

At the launch, Lee’s father, high school teacher and friends introduced him to the audience before a video presentation of his manifesto promises was shown.

“Having an MCA flag would have made it a very solemn and formal event.

“We wanted a fresh approach to doing our event,” he said when asked after the event, denying that the MCA flag was unwelcome there.

In his own words, Lee explains why as a 'true Sekinchan boy' representing a BN component party, he is best poised to make his hometown a better place.  

I AM NOT LOOKING TO BRING GLORY TO MCA. I am a local Sekinchan boy and I just want to see how I can use this platform to help the people. My focus is Sekinchan.

I hope that with my manifesto, I stand a chance. Being young, I am more energetic and eager to serve.

While I do not deny Ng's contributions to tourism here, how do we build upon the current success?

IT IS BETTER TO WORK WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT to increase development here. MCA can work with the federal government.

WE HOPE TO BRING THE LOCAL COMMUNITY into the tourism industry. I want to develop immersive tourism here like what we see happening in China and Taiwan. The tourism industry there is not just monopolised by a few big firms, but the entire village and community is involved.

I hope tourists will be able to come and understand how our fisherfolk and farmers live, and not just come and eat, drink and take photographs.

WE HOPE TO COLLABORATE with the federal government and China’s 'One Belt, One Road' initiative to develop small to medium enterprises here. We want to export Sekinchan products to the world. We hope this will help create jobs for Sekinchan youth as well.

ALSO, WE NEED TO BRING AWARENESS to the people about government programmes. It’s sad that many locals here don’t really go forth to understand what the government is doing, so few of them apply for government grants.

Some people who I have met didn’t even know that there is a health clinic in front of the local school.  

IN THE LAST 10 YEARS WE HAVE SEEN SO MUCH TURMOIL in the political environment in Malaysia. We have to weigh both the good and bad of both sides of the political divide. We can’t say that this party is all good or another party is all bad. We have to be objective.

WITH MCA, WE DO ONE BAD THING AND THAT IS ALL YOU HIGHLIGHT, but the truth is we have been doing good things all these years and that has not been highlighted.

The MCA party is okay and BN policies are good, but sometimes the execution of these policies have not been done so well.

And that’s why I think it is better to change things from the inside MCA. I want to enact change that is from the inside out.

WE HAVE TAKEN MANY STANCES FOR THE CHINESE but what MCA is lacking is publicity.

I believe MCA continues to fight for the interests of the Chinese Malaysians.

CALONKINI introduces new faces from all sides of the political divide who are potential candidates for the 14th general election.

These interviews are not an endorsement by Malaysiakini.

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