page_title: Malaysian Chinese Association
section_title: 1969–1985
hierarchical_section_title: Malaysian Chinese Association / History / 1969–1985
caption_attribution_description: English: Lee San Choon, former president of Malaysian Chinese Association. Taken at a banquet in 2006 in Kuala Lumpur. Image cropped to focus on person.
context_page_description: The Malaysian Chinese Association is a uni-racial political party in Malaysia that seeks to represent the Malaysian Chinese ethnicity; it is one of the three major component parties of the coalition party in Malaysia called the Barisan Nasional in Malay, or National Front in English.
  Along with the largest and third largest component party in BN, i.e. United Malays National Organisation and Malaysian Indian Congress, MCA has a significant influence over the political arena in Malaysia since its independence. Through its holding of companies such as Huaren Holdings, MCA controls The Star, which is Malaysia's best-selling English newspaper.
  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 strong support in the mid-1990s to mid-2000s period.
context_section_description: 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 (DAP) 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 (tou jia, rich men), and invited professionals to join the party.  However, many of these were 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 (which later became Barisan Nasional) 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.
caption: Lee San Choon, president 1975–1983
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