Malaysian Chinese Association
The Malaysian Chinese Association, formerly known as the Malayan Chinese Association, is a political party in Malaysia that seeks to represent the Malaysian Chinese community; it was one of the three original major component parties of the coalition party in Malaysia called the Alliance Party, which later became a broader coalition called Barisan Nasional.
The party was once the largest party representing the Chinese community in Malaysia, and was particularly dominant in the early period until the late 1960s. Its fortunes fluctuated after the establishment of other political parties in the 1960s that challenged it for the Chinese votes, although it still enjoyed significant support in the mid-1990s to mid-2000s period. However, it has performed poorly in elections since 2008, with the Malaysian Chinese community mostly voting for the Democratic Action Party and People's Justice Party, and in the 2018 Malaysian general election, it lost all but one of its parliamentary seats and was relegated to the opposition. It returned to power in March 2020 as part of the alliance with Perikatan Nasional. Since the 2022 election, the party has been part of the government backbench.
Through its holding of companies such as Huaren Holdings, MCA controls The Star, which is Malaysia's best-selling English newspaper.
History
Formation and early years
The Malayan Chinese Association was formed on 27 February 1949 with the implicit support by the post-World War II British colonial administration. A central purpose of the MCA at the time of its founding was to manage the specific social and welfare concerns of the populations interned in the so-called New Villages created under the Briggs Plan in response to the Malayan Emergency.The declaration that announced the MCA as a formal political party in 1951 was written by a prominent Straits Chinese businessman, Tan Cheng Lock, its first president. In general, its early members were landowners, businessmen, or otherwise better off, while the working classes in the New Villages overwhelmingly joined the Socialist Front instead. Many prominent members of the MCA were also Kuomintang members opposed to the Malayan Communist Party. Leong Yew Koh, was a KMT major general who became a cabinet minister and later became governor of Malacca; Malaysia's first minister of finance, Henry H.S. Lee, was a KMT colonel; and Lim Chong Eu, the leader of the Radical Party and joined the MCA in 1952, was a colonel doctor in the Kuomintang.
In 1952, MCA joined force with the United Malays National Organisation on a local level to contest the Kuala Lumpur municipal elections which would lead to the formation of the Alliance Party. The alliance was joined by Malaysian Indian Congress in 1954 and they contested the first Malayan General Election in 1955 as one body, and the alliance won 51 of the 52 seat contested. MCA won all 15 of the seats allocated.
Tan Cheng Lock was succeeded by Lim Chong Eu after a successful challenge by Lim for the presidency in 1958. Lim attempted to amend the party's Constitution to consolidate the power of the Central Committee, and although amendment was passed narrowly, it also split the party. Prior to the 1959 General Election, Lim pressed for an increase of the allocated number of seats from 28 to 40, but this was refused by UMNO leader Tunku Abdul Rahman. Lim was forced to back down and later resigned as president, with Cheah Toon Lock taking over as acting president. Other members also resigned from MCA to contest the election as independent candidates, which cost the party some seats. The party only won 19 of the 31 seats eventually allocated. Lim himself left the party in December 1960, later becoming one of the founding members of the opposition Gerakan in 1968. In 1961 Tan Siew Sin, son of Tan Cheng Lock and favoured by Tunku, became MCA's third President. Tan led the party to a firm victory in the 1964 General Election, winning 27 of the 33 parliamentary seats contested. In 1969, Tan established Tunku Abdul Rahman College after a proposal for a Chinese-language university was turned down by the government.
1969–1985
The third Malaysian general elections were held on 10 May 1969. MCA faced strong challenges from the new, mainly Chinese, opposition parties Democratic Action Party and Gerakan. Of the 33 parliamentary seats contested, MCA managed to retain only 13. MCA also lost control of the Penang State Government to Gerakan. The gain by the opposition parties led to tension between different communities which erupted into the May 13 Riots. Prior to the riots, on 12 May 1969, Tan Siew Sin announced that the party would withdraw from the Alliance, but reconsidered on 20 May and joined the National Operations Council formed in place of the suspended Parliament after the riots. The loss of support for MCA among the Chinese population elicited a comment by the then Deputy Prime Minister Dr Ismail that if MCA continue to lose support, UMNO may stop co-operating with it. To regain Chinese support, Tan attempted to broaden the appeal of the party previously seen as a party of the taukeh, and invited professionals to join the party. However, many of these were later expelled after a dispute involving Lim Keng Yaik who then joined Gerakan.With the loss of support for MCA in the 1969 election, and the enlargement of the Alliance party in 1972 to include Gerakan, UMNO became even more dominant and MCA suffered a loss of status within the coalition. In 1973, Tan Siew Sin requested a position as Deputy Prime Minister in the cabinet reshuffle following the death of Tun Dr. Ismail, but this was refused by Tun Abdul Razak, which angered Tan. On 8 April 1974, prior to the general election, Tan Siew Sin resigned all of his party and government posts for health reasons.
Lee San Choon took over as Acting President following Tan's resignation, and was then elected president in 1975. After Tan's resignation, the cabinet posts allocated to MCA declined in importance, and MCA lost both the Finance Ministry and Trade and Industry Ministry posts it once held in 1957. The party performed better in the 1974 election, but lost ground again in the following 1978 general election, with the MCA winning only 17 of the 28 parliamentary seats and 44 of the 60 state seats. In 1979, Michael Chen stood against Lee San Choon for the MCA Presidency but lost, and later in 1981 led a group of MCA dissidents to join Gerakan.
The 1982 general election however saw a shift in fortune for MCA. Lee accepted a challenge from the opposition Democratic Action Party which taunted the MCA's leadership for not daring to contest a seat with large urban Chinese majority, and contested the parliamentary seat for Seremban against the incumbent DAP Chairman Chen Man Hin. Lee won his challenge, and led his party to a resounding victory, winning 24 out of 28 allocated parliamentary seats and 55 out of 62 state seats. After the success in the election and at the height of his career, Lee San Choon unexpectedly resigned his presidency and cabinet post for unspecified reason in 1983. Neo Yee Pan then led as Acting President until 1985.
1985–2003
In 1985, Tan Koon Swan, who was sacked from the party a year earlier, won the presidential election with the largest majority in the party's history. However, in the following year, he was charged with abetting criminal breach of trust relating to his private business dealings in Singapore, and resigned from the presidency. Koon Swan also originated the Deposit-Taking Cooperatives, which sought to accumulate capital for Chinese Malaysians through investments. The mismanagement of the DTCs' funds led to a scandal, with the central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia, stepping in to freeze the assets of up to 35 DTCs. The total loss was estimated to be RM3.6 billion, and depositors could only recover 62% of their deposits.Koon Swan was succeeded by his deputy Ling Liong Sik in 1986. He assumed the presidency when the party was still rife with factionalism and faced disillusionment with the Chinese community over the Deposit-Taking Cooperatives scandal. Ling spent his early years as president working to resolve MCA's financial problems, raising funds while restructuring the party's assets. Ling presided over a period of relative peace within the party, and worked to maintain the interests of the Chinese community through a closed-door approach within the government. He expanded the MCA-owned Tunku Abdul Rahman College through fund-raising and government contributions, and in 2001 set up Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman. Ling led MCA to its best electoral performance thus far in the 1995 general election, winning 30 of the 34 allocated parliamentary seats and 71 of the 77 state seats, and secured a majority of Chinese votes at the expense of DAP. MCA also performed well in the 1999 general elections, and the successive electoral victory boosted the party's standing within the Barisan Nasional coalition as well as Ling's personal relationship with BN leader and prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.
However, internal power struggles persisted. In 1993 Ling's deputy Lee Kim Sai indicated that he would challenge Ling for the presidency, but withdrew at the eleventh hour. Lee eventually retired in 1996 and was replaced as deputy president by Lim Ah Lek. In 1999, the party was again wracked by factionalism. Deputy president Lim Ah Lek announced his intention to retire as a minister and agreed with Ling to nominate his protégé Chan Kong Choy to the Cabinet after the 1999 elections. However, Ling nominated his own protégé Ong Ka Ting as a minister at the expense of Chan, causing discontent with members aligned to Lim, which became known as "Team B" among party members. The Ling faction was known as "Team A". Tensions flared further after MCA, through its holding company Huaren, moved to acquire the independent daily Nanyang Siang Pau. This was vehemently opposed by Team B, fearing a complete control of the Chinese media by Team A. They were joined by Chinese journalists and non-governmental organisations, who made their opposition public through demonstrations. The situation turned farcical when chairs were thrown during the 2001 Youth general assembly over the issue. Huaren eventually succeeded in taking over Nanyang Siang Pau. Huaren also controls The Star and China Press, and the domination of media press resulted in strong resentments in the divided party and concerns over press freedom.
Mahathir, as BN leader, eventually stepped in to resolve the conflict, suggesting a "peace plan" among the factions. The scheduled 2002 party elections were cancelled, while Ling and Lim stepped down to be replaced by their respective protégés.