While acting BN chief Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has called for the ongoing war of words between his party men and MCA to stop, the latter appears unfazed.

This follows Zahid today calling for the public spat between MCA deputy president Wee Ka Siong and Umno information chief Annuar Musa to stop, as reported by the New Straits Times.

“Both of them are voicing their personal opinions, not the official stance of Umno and MCA.

“The failure to defend many parliamentary and state seats for Umno and MCA is a reality that we have to accept due to the political hatred which was planted among the people by the other side,” Zahid was reported as saying in a statement.

MCA publicity bureau chairperson Chai Kim Sen, however, insisted that Annuar had “missed the point” of what Wee had said.

“Annuar had not only overreacted to Wee’s comment, but also presented his rebuttal in a most unsightly manner, debasing MCA in the process.

"This is precisely the type of behaviour that became the impetus of BN’s downfall.

“It is regrettable that Annuar does not comprehend this point. And he need not place hopes on regaining voters’ support if he continues to act this way,” he said in a statement today.

'Learning nothing from defeat'

Chai said that it is clear that voters had rejected both Umno and MCA as partners in BN, and that by choosing to “redirect the blame to everyone but ourselves, it would be clear that we have learned nothing from our defeat.”

“We contested side-by-side under the same flag which flies the BN insignia, and lost as one. Now, we shall all bear the responsibilities together,” said Chai, adding that MCA has now decided to strive to give voters what they want.

“One thing is certain: Whether or not Umno chooses to reform, it does not change the fact that MCA has already set in motion a series of self-examinations and internal reformations.

“The results in GE14 had told us clear and simple, that the voters yearn for an advanced and democratic Malaysia, governed fairly and with integrity – exactly what MCA wants to stand for.”

The 14th general election on May 9 saw BN suffer an unprecedented defeat, relinquishing federal power for the first time in the nation's history, and retaining only two states in the peninsula.

MCA was one of the main casualties in the humiliating drubbing, winning only one parliamentary seat – Wee holding on to Ayer Hitam with a razor-thin majority.