Najib favours fresh MCA polls, Sin Chew reports

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 — Sin Chew Daily has learned that Prime Minister-cum-BN president Datuk Seri Najib Razak is inclined towards fresh polls for MCA to elect a new leadership and resolve the current dispute once and for all. According to a source, Najib wants the party to quickly stand up and serve the Chinese community. The source said the Oct 10 extraordinary general meeting (EGM) and the Greater Unity Plan (GUP) seemed unable to bring about a greater unity for MCA. It said Najib was impatient with it and had repeatedly hinted that the party should resolve its crisis as soon as possible.

During the opening of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) annual general assembly yesterday, Najib refused to comment when asked about the fact that some MCA leaders had wanted a second EGM to re-elect the party leadership to resolve the party's crisis. However he said: "I will accept whoever is elected in a fair manner, and be prepared to work with this person and his team." The source said the problem with Najib was that he could not explicitly give his instructions, and had kept stressing that he would not interfere unless invited by MCA leaders to resolve their crisis. "But this is not the solution... as BN does not have too much time to prepare for the next general election. The GUP can no longer bring stability and unity to MCA. The existing leadership is unable to work together and if the crisis is allowed to go on, Chinese voters will surely shun MCA in the next general election, and this will harm BN." The source said as the BN president, Najib was increasingly concerned about the MCA crisis, and this could be seen from the recent strong hints he made on a number of occasions. The source said Najib had so far not taken any action to avoid being accused of interfering in the internal affairs of MCA. He said based on the current situation, in order to have a strong MCA to enable the party to face the next general election along with other BN component parties, it appeared that the only solution was to allow the grassroots to elect a new leadership to bring stability to the party once and for all. "As to who will eventually be elected to lead MCA, the party's grassroots will decide, and Najib is not going to interfere. "Najib only wants to see that the new leadership is able to re-adjust its pace and move forward." According to the source, Najib and BN urgently need a strong MCA that will instantly serve the Chinese community. "To Najib, Umno has made changes and got back on its feet. How long does MCA still have to wait? BN is now racing against time, we need an MCA that can instantly serve the Chinese community." On Saturday, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said in Kluang that the time had now come for MCA to ask Najib to step in and help resolve its leadership problems. He said MCA must immediately resolve its crisis as people had got tired of it, adding that when people were tired of this party, they would go for other options and eventually it would harm both MCA and BN. — mysinchew.com