KUALA LUMPUR: MCA has revealed that it was told by certain senior Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders that the coalition should form a government with Perikatan Nasional (PN) after the 15th General Election (GE15).
MCA deputy president Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon said the formation of a government involving BN and PN was decided before GE15 in that any political cooperation involving the coalition would be based on the "No DAP, No Anwar" slogan.
"It was the same situation for Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS). There were also news reports of GPS' support for PN after it was informed that BN had agreed to back PN.
"However, in BN's first supreme council meeting held after GE15, it was decided that BN would stay neutral and remain in the opposition.
"In the meeting, MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong proposed that any party who had signed the statutory declaration backing any individual be retracted immediately.
"This was followed by BN instructing all of its members of parliaments (MPs) to do the same," he said today.
On Nov 22, BN secretary-general Dr Zambry Abd Kadir said that none of its MPs had supported PN chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as the 10th prime minister and their stance had been conveyed to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
BN is now part of the unity government led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is Pakatan Harapan chairman and PKR president.
On Monday, MCA secretary-general Datuk Chong Sin Woon said MCA would support Anwar's unity government with BN.
He had urged everyone to cooperate towards political stability and ensure economic growth in the interest of the people and the country.
GE15, which concluded on Nov 19, saw no party securing a simple majority of 112 seats in the 222-seat Parliament to form a new government.
PH won the most with 82 seats, followed by PN with 73, BN with 30, Gabungan Parti Sarawak with 22, Gabungan Rakyat Sabah with six and Warisan with three.
Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat and Parti Bangsa Malaysia got one seat each, while there were two seats won by independent candidates.