GE-14: MCA Losing Grip?

Looking into the media sphere, it seems like MCA is a ‘one-man show’ in their fight towards the upcoming GE, without much support from other government-owned medias.

MCA-owned newspaper, The Star takes the lead, of course, in controlling the perception of the people towards reviving the party’s image especially within the Chinese communities after their disastrous loss in the previous two elections.

However, it is unsure if it is enough to revive MCA’s image in the public’s eyes’ as the pro-oppositions portals are big on attacking the party while occupying much of the media space.

And who is actually doing the talking?

In Barisan, MCA do not possess the power. Their existence in the coalition is only by name when in reality, their words and statements are mere worthless if they are not agreed upon by UMNO. This assumption is strengthened when we look at whom are the tastemaker within the party.

MCA President, Liow Tiong Lai leads the party, while UMNO’s president, Najib Razak gives the final say. This can be justified in the small difference in the number of statements given out to the media between Tiong Lai and Najib (1,233 vs 943 statements respectively). From here, it can be seen who is actually calling the shots within the party.

Public perception, on the other hand, shows the party still has weak standing, and this could highly jeopardize their performance in the upcoming elections.

If MCA fails to break away from UMNO’s grip, and have its own stands for the community that they should have stand for, then they can kiss GE14 goodbye.