While Chua Soi Lek’s proposal is aimed at providing balance, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia lecturer Mazlan Ali said it was more likely to cause a split in Chinese votes, ultimately to the detriment of the current government bloc.

In mixed seats where Chinese voters form a slight majority, PN was likely to emerge the winner through the support of the Malay electorate.

“If the Chinese votes are split between DAP (Pakatan Harapan) and MCA (Barisan Nasional), there’s a possibility that both parties would lose. And PN could then emerge the winner thanks to the split in Chinese votes,” he told FMT.

Mazlan added the Chinese community could even lose representation, if PN decides to field non-Chinese candidates in such seats.

Chua’s suggestion, made at a recent Keluar Sekejap podcast, was that Chinese voters should continue backing DAP in seats where the community makes up more than 70% of voters, while shifting support to Barisan Nasional in mixed constituencies.

He said some DAP leaders had become arrogant and assumed that the community’s support for their party was guaranteed.

Political scientist Wong Chin Huat of Sunway University said MCA’s electoral success was hinged on where Umno stands on key issues, even if MCA goes all out in hopes of winning over Chinese voters.

Wong said MCA’s predicament is made harder by Umno leaders attacking DAP over “sensitive issues”, which he added is construed by some as the minority community coming under attack.

He said the irony of such attacks is that they bolster DAP’s standing among the Chinese as the party that most represents them.

“Without Umno and PN’s attacks, DAP’s weaknesses become all the more apparent, which benefits MCA.

“But if they don’t attack DAP, what issues can be played up by the likes of Umno Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh? Can MCA persuade Akmal to change targets? That would be difficult,” he added.