Ling Tian Soon (carried, left) team hoisting him and Mike Chong up in celebration of their victory as the newly elected MCA Youth chief and deputy MCA Youth chief.
KUALA LUMPUR: Ling Tian Soon has declared victory in the race for the MCA Youth chief post.
The Johor Yong Peng assemblyman and Johor health and unity committee chairman was currently leading comfortably against his opponents Daniel Wa Wai How and Bernard Chan Kee Siang.
Ling garnered 91 electoral votes against Wa (47) and Bernard Chan Kee Siang (0) as at press time.
When met, Ling said the foremost focus for him as the new MCA Youth chief was to widen the wing’s member base, which had shrunk tremendously over the years.
"Let’s close ranks and work together to recruit more young people to join the party... train them to be the new generation of leaders.
"I hope the Youth wing will be an important talent pool for the party," he told reporters at Wisma MCA here on Saturday (Sept 23).
Ling added that not all hope was lost as his contender, Wa, remained as Perak MCA Youth chief.
"He will still play a role in rejuvenating the party," Ling added.
Mike Chong Yew Chuan, who also declared victory for the deputy MCA Youth chief post, concurred that it was essential to recruit more Youth members.
"The number of all Youth members nationwide is less than 10% of the party’s overall membership.
"This is an alarming situation because without the newer generation, a party will not grow," he said.
Earlier, Ling and Chong marched into Dewan San Choon together with their team where the vote tallying is taking place and were greeted in high-spirits by fellow supporters.
The group later posed for photographs celebrating their victory, while hoisting Ling on their shoulders.
Party polls for the Wanita MCA and Youth wings took place on Saturday.
Elections for the central party committee will take place on Sunday (Sept 24).
The party polls involve a total of 52,736 divisional delegates comprising 29,151 MCA delegates; 5,016 MCA Youth and 18,569 Wanita MCA delegates.
A total of 160 polling stations have been set up nationwide for the central committee election, comprising 149 divisional polling stations and 11 joint divisional polling stations.
