IPOH: MCA hopes to rectify flaws in its election campaigns that were not properly addressed in past general elections, says Wanita MCA chief Datuk Heng Seai Kie.

She that although the Barisan Nasional’s Jalinan Rakyat (JR) Plus programme was not new, such campaigns were only launched close to the general election in previous years.

“At that time, we had obtained figures from opinion polls, but we could do nothing to change them.

“This should no longer be our practice. Now that we have launched JR Plus months before the general election is called, we can identify white, grey or black voter areas.

“This means that we will have time to change our strategy to attract more voters to support Barisan,” she said in her speech at the Perak Wanita MCA annual general meeting here yesterday.

JR Plus is Barisan’s largest election machinery centred on the coalition’s unified approach at all levels, which is mobilised in each state in preparation for the general election. It was launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in April.

Heng said one of the JR Plus initiatives is aimed at winning over voters who are still unsure whether they would vote for Barisan or the Opposition.

For Perak, she said election preparations would be headed by state MCA chief Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon.

“We must fight to retain our state’s parliamentary seat in Tanjung Malim and state seat in Chenderiang.

“It is hard work and our ability to serve the people will decide if we can win back the other six parliamentary seats and 14 state seats we lost,” she said.

Heng added that current opinion polls suggested that MCA would be able to win the Gopeng parliamentary seat as well as Teja and Simpang Pulai state seats in GE14.

She also urged the women’s wing members to strengthen their support for the party now that more than 41% of MCA members are women.

“In Perak, there are 71,046 members in the women’s wing, which makes up 15.58% of Wanita MCA members and 41.67% of Perak MCA members.

“With this in mind, we should no longer play the role of being the woman who stands behind a successful man. We should be the successful woman who stands next to an equally successful man,” she said.

-The Star-