KUALA LUMPUR: After a disastrous outing in the recent 15th General Election (GE15), MCA and MIC have decided to skip the upcoming state elections.
In GE15, MCA only won two of the 44 parliamentary seats contested while MIC only secured one of the 10 seats contested.
In separate statements issued by the respective party leaders, both parties will continue to play as the component party to Barisan Nasional (BN).
MCA secretary-general Chong Sin Woon said that the decision was taken after in-depth discussion and analysis, as well as taking into account the current political situation.
He also said that the party would implement reform and revitalisation in preparation for the next general election.
"MCA will focus more on preparing for the 16th General Election (GE16).
"At the same time, MCA will play a role as a component party of the BN where we will help the BN candidates in the state elections," he said in a statement today.
MIC secretary general RT Rajasekaran said that the party's decision had already been conveyed to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the chairperson of Madani unity government.
He also said that the party was not consulted for the upcoming state elections seat allocations as announced by BN deputy chairman Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.
"The decision by MIC to not contest in the upcoming state elections was made solely to protect the interests of the party.
"At this time, MIC will pay more attention to the process of building a stronger party structure to face GE16," he said.
The Election Commission (EC) has fixed Aug 12 as polling day and July 29 as the nomination day for the elections in six states.
The elections will be held at Kedah, Penang, Kelantan, Terengganu, Selangor and Negri Sembilan.