KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23 — MCA’s decision today to accept all government posts, including  ministerial appointments, is a U-turn that dents its credibility, two Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders said.

The party’s repeated attempts to reverse a decision made less than a year ago is proof that the ailing party only exists to reap the benefits from holding posts in Putrajaya, they said.

“There is clearly no honour or principles in the party, and the only reason for their existence is to become Cabinet ministers and government officers,” DAP MP Tony Pua told The Malay Mail Online here.

PKR MP Sim Tze Tzin agreed, saying that the party’s newly-elected president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai  also went back on his words rejecting any government posts just a few months shy of his appointment.

“Now only two months after becoming president he wants a post in the cabinet. This shows this party is flip-flopping and it has lost all credibility that it has because of this reversal,” said the Bayan Baru MP.

MCA voted overwhelmingly to accept all government posts, including jobs as ministers, at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held today.

The vote in favour of the party accepting government posts at federal, state and local levels was carried through comfortably, with 1,973 out of 1,982 MCA delegates present saying yes.

The result overturns previous decisions which had prevented the party from being represented in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s cabinet.

Sim pointed out that MCA’s pledge that it won’t accept cabinet appointments unless it improved on its election result had been a cornerstone of its campaign ahead of polls last May.

MCA had held the Chinese community to ransom with that pledge, he said.

“They’ve obviously regretted their gambit to threaten the voters against voting for PR which failed miserably as they performed miserably,” added Pua, who is the Petaling Jaya Utara MP.

At the 2008 election, MCA lost nearly half the seats it held, winning just 15 seats. More losses followed in 2013 and its number of parliamentary seats were whittled down to just seven.

The party’s central committee members later voted to reverse the decision not to accept government appointments but the reversal applied for lower level government posts and not ministerial jobs.

Pua added that the repeated EGMs to reverse the earlier decision showed that the MCA leadership doesn’t keep its word.

“People are disgusted by political parties that should have certain principles, and at least should fulfil certain promises. This is a major, drastic reversal.

“A lot of people will be disappointed, if they are not already disappointed by MCA,” said Sim.