1970

Tunku Abdul Rahman retired as Prime Minister on September 22. He was succeeded by Tun Razak. MCA maintained its four ministerial positions in the cabinet but Khaw Kai Boh declined to serve in the government.

In the Party elections, Tun Tan Siew Sin was again re-elected as President with Khaw Kai Boh elected as his Deputy. A new Party Constitution was also adopted in the Assembly which provided for the appointment of the Chairman of Party State Liaison Committee by the President instead of being elected. The provision, in other words, abolished the traditional elections at state level.

1971

MCA absorbed a number of professionals into the Party as “new blood” in a move to improve its image.

Parliamentary democracy was restored on February 2 with the passage of the Constitutional Amendments Bill in Parliament disallowing questioning on four sensitive matters namely: the position of the National Language; special privileges of the Malays; the position of the Rulers and the citizenship status of the non-Malays.

On February 7, a gathering of representatives of Chinese guilds and associations was held. Speaking at the gathering, Party President Tun Tan Siew Sin called on the Chinese to forge strong unity and pledged that he was willing to step down should he be considered a stumbling block to Chinese unity. A Chinese Unity Declaration was passed in the gathering. Similar gatherings were later held in Negeri Sembilan, Perak and Penang.

The Party issued an important and historic declaration entitled ” Chinese Unity For The Overall Unity of The Malaysian Peoples ” on July 18 listing out the actions and measures taken by the Party to safeguard and protect the constitutional rights of all Chinese Malaysians as enshrined in the Federal Constitution. The declaration was called “7.18 Declaration” in short.

1972

Two key leaders and Members of Parliament of the Democratic Action Party namely Richard Ho and Walter Loh crossed the floor and joined the MCA when Parliament was in session. With this, the number of MCA parliamentarians had increased to 15.

Party Deputy President Tan Sri Khaw Kai Boh passed away on April 17. The Central Committee appointed Lee San Choon to fill the vacated post.

The Education sub-committee of the Party organised a conference with the Chinese educationist groups to discuss issues related to independent Chinese schools. The conference came out with the slogan of “Independent Chinese schools are here to stay and develop”.

A Chinese Mental Revolution movement was launched by the Party in October.

1973

The National Front concept slowly took its form early this year with opposition parties like the Parti Islam Malaysia (PAS); the Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP); the Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan); the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) joining as members.

MCA “new blood” Dr. Lim Keng Yaik, Alex Lee, Dr. Tan Tiong Hong and Yong Siew Hiong started a rebellous movement which they called “Reformation Movement” to topple the Party leadership. The initial targets were Lee San Choon and Kam Woon Wah but later Tun Tan was also included as a prime target. The revolt leaders were expelled later for breaching party discipline.

1974

A series of Chinese economic seminars were held in various cities in the first quarter of the year focusing on issues of Chinese economic development. Calls were made to urge Chinese to pool their financial resources to venture into modern big enterprises to prepare themselves to meet future challenges and ensure that they maintain the 40% equity participation as guaranteed under the New Economic Policy.
Tun Tan Siew Sin resigned from all posts in the Party and government on April 8 for health reasons.

The Party Central Committee appointed Lee San Choon as the Acting President on April 17. On assuming the position, Lee emphasized that he would work towards unifying the Chinese to build a fair and united nation.

The MCA organized a Chinese Culture Conference in Penang during which a resolution was passed emphasizing that the multiracial culture of the nation must not be based on a monolithic culture.
On May 1, the MCA broke tradition by organising a Labour Day celebration. Acting President Lee San Choon told the crowd at the celebration that MCA will always stand together with the working class.
A few hundred DAP members, led by Serdang stateassemblyman Yap Pian Hon crossed over to the MCA on July 7.

In the fourth general elections held in August, the MCA was allocated 23 Parliamentary seats and won 19 — a success rate of 82.6%.
Lee San Choon announced a “five major projects” plan to reform the Party.The five which later termed as the First Five Major Projects were:

1. A new Party Headquarters building;
2. Raising fund for the Tunku Abdul Rahman College;
3. Membership drive;
4. Setting up the Multi-Purpose Holdings Sendirian Berhad;

Setting up Malaysian Chinese Cultural Society.

1975

MCA submitted a Memorandum on Education to the government suggesting that the medium of instruction in the Chinese primary schools be extended to secondary level to provide students of various races a better chance to improve and safeguard their mother language. The memorandum also proposed the abolition of certain clauses in the 1961 Education Act to ensure that Chinese schools maintain its characteristics. It further proposed that the Chinese Senior Middle Examination be resumed. The views in the memorandum were not acceptable to the Chinese educationist groups and they submitted a separate memorandum to the government. Party leaders met the groups several times to try and resolve the differences but their efforts were in vain.

The Annual Delegates’ Conference passed the Party’s five major projects and this decision was described as the turning point in the Party’s history.

In October, KSM Secretary Choo Cheng Wah announced that Multi-Purpose Holdings which was one of the Party’s five major projects, was approved and registered. ..The name was later changed to Multi-Purpose Holdings Berhad (MPHB) and the primary aim of the company was to lead the Chinese into doing business in the modern way.

1976

MCA organised a conference on squatters and farmers in Ipoh in August and passed a declaration urging the government to open up land for the landless to apply.

Party Headquarters’ Executive Secretary Tan Kean Sin was detained by the government on November 3 under the Internal Security Act. He was the first high-ranking official of the Party to be detained since the inception of the Party. He was detained for his alleged involvement in subversive activities in his earlier days in school and not because of his works in MCA.

Construction works on the new Party Headquarters’ Building, which is one of the five major projects, commenced in December. Activities to raise funds for the building were carried out throughout the country.

1977

The Malaysian Chinese Cultural Society, another one of the Party projects , was registered and its inauguration ceremony was held in Penang on March 5. Datok Wee Khoon Hock, a doyen in the Chinese cultural community, was elected as its President.

Multi-Purpose Holdings Berhad released its prospectus for public share subscription in May. In the ceremony, Party President Datuk Lee San Choon emphasized that this was one of the major projects to lead the Chinese to actively participate in the commerce and industry sector and to modernize their method of doing business. Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng, a successful business tycoon, was elected as its Chairman and Tan Koon Swan appointed as Managing Director (Operations) with Choo Cheng Wah as Managing Director (Administration). Public response to the share subscription exercise was overwhelming. At the close of application date, it was oversubscribed with a total of 43 million shares of one Ringgit each being applied. The original target was only 30 million shares of one Ringgit each.

In the Party elections in August, Datuk Lee San Choon was re-elected Party President. Incumbent Deputy President Tan Sri Lee Siok Yew did not seek re-election. The post was keenly contested between Tan Sri Chong Hon Ngen and Datuk Michael Chen with the latter emerging victorious.

1978

The Merdeka University issue re-emerged and gained wide publicity in the Chinese press. Convenors of the University launched a nationwide signature campaign to get Chinese guilds and associations to give their full support in an effort to get the Royal Assent for its setting up. On April 12, Party President Datuk Lee San Choon explained that the 1971 University and University College Act specified that Chinese language could not be the medium of instruction in local universities. As such, the porposed University did not comply with the Act which made it impossible for its registration.

On July 5, President Datuk Lee San Choon expressed dissatisfaction over the reducing number of intake of Chinese students in the five local universities. He suggested that the ratio of intake should be 50:50 between Bumiputras and non-Bumiputras.

The fifth general elections were held on July 8 in which MCA won 17 Parliamentary seats out of 28 contested.

The annual delegates’ assembly which was held in November passed a resolution not to support the proposed Merdeka University.

Party President Lee San Choon stepped down as Chairman of Koperasi Serbaguna Malaysia in December. Datuk Oon Seng Lee was elected the new Chairman.

1979

MCA leaders were concerned and angry that new intake of Chinese students of the five local universities have increased by only 2%. In Parliament, Tan Koon Swan criticised the Minister of Education for going against his promise given earlier. On June 28, Party President Datuk Lee San Choon led an MCA top-ranking delegation to meet the UMNO leadership led by Prime Minister Datuk Husssein Onn to discuss the matter. It was agreed at the meeting that the ratio of future intake should be 55% for Bumiputra and 45% non-Bumiputra. The formula was later known as the “628 formula”.

In the Party elections on September 8, Datuk Michael Chen challenged Datuk Lee San Choon for the post of President. It was the battle royale which saw Datuk Lee convincingly defeating Datuk Chen. Two members of the Party petitioned to the High Court and sought that the Court declare the elections null and void. The petition was rejected.

A Chinese Cultural Seminar organized by the Malaysian Chinese Cultural Society was held in Penang in December.