Ling declares victory for Youth chief post

KUALA LUMPUR: Ling Tian Soon has announced his victory in the race for the MCA Youth chief position. The Johor Yong Peng assemblyman and Johor health and unity committee chairman is currently leading comfortably against his opponents Daniel Wa Wai How and Bernard Chan Kee Siang. As of now, Ling has received 91 electoral votes, while Wa has received 47 votes and Chan has received 0 votes.

Upon being asked, Ling stated that his main focus as the new MCA Youth chief is to expand the wing’s member base, which has significantly decreased over the years. He urged everyone to come together and recruit more young people to join the party, aiming to train them as the new generation of leaders. “I hope the Youth wing will become an important talent pool for the party,” he expressed to reporters at Wisma MCA on Saturday (Sept 23).

Ling also acknowledged that there is still hope for Wa, as he will continue to serve as the Perak MCA Youth chief and contribute to the party’s revitalization. Mike Chong Yew Chuan, who claims victory for the deputy MCA Youth chief position, agreed with Ling’s stance on the importance of recruiting more Youth members. Chong emphasized that the number of Youth members nationwide is less than 10% of the party’s overall membership, stating that this is a concerning situation for the party’s growth.

Prior to their victory, Ling and Chong entered Dewan San Choon together with their team, where the vote tallying was taking place, and were warmly received by their supporters. The group later celebrated their win by posing for photographs while carrying Ling on their shoulders. Party polls for the Wanita MCA and Youth wings were conducted on Saturday, while elections for the central party committee will occur on Sunday (Sept 24).

The party polls involve a total of 52,736 divisional delegates, including 29,151 MCA delegates, 5,016 MCA Youth delegates, and 18,569 Wanita MCA delegates. A total of 160 polling stations have been set up across the country for the central committee election, consisting of 149 divisional polling stations and 11 joint divisional polling stations.