00:01An analyst warns MCA's recent election wins in Johor and Negeris Milan may lift morale,
00:07but reclaiming urban seats from DAP will be a tougher test.
00:12International Islamic University Malaysia's Lao Tzu Wei identified regaining support
00:17in DAP-dominated urban areas in Selangor, Penang, Perah and Kuala Lumpur as MCA's key challenge.
00:25He noted that the wins came amid Barisan Nacional's cooperation with Perikatan Nacional,
00:31particularly the consolidation of Malay votes in MCA-contested seats.
00:36Chinese voters, meanwhile, have remained largely loyal to DAP and its allies since 2008.
00:44Lao urged MCA to rebuild voter trust by using its elected representatives
00:49to demonstrate the party's ability to solve problems.
00:52MCA President Mika Siong recently urged party leaders and members not to be complacent over
01:00its small wins after the party secured eight Johor seats and two in Negeris Milan for BN.
01:07BN and PN later formed the Negeris Milan government,
01:10with similar cooperation potentially extending to Malacca ahead of its expected state election
01:16before year-end.
01:17University Technology Malaysia's Maslan Ali warned the same BN-PN arrangement could become
01:24a liability if future joint campaigns leaned heavily on a Malay-Islamic narrative.
01:30He cautioned that MCA's gains from Malay vote consolidation did not mean DAP's hold on
01:37non-Malay voters had weakened.
01:39MCA therefore risks becoming increasingly dependent on Malay votes while losing non-Malay support.
01:46Mazlan stressed that MCA needed to champion Chinese community interests while showing that its role
01:53was not confined to one race.
01:56Nathaniel Aiko, FMT
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