Chua, who has called for an end to NEP-type policies, said the MCA will suffer an even heavier defeat at the next general election if a strong leader is not elected.
He said that in the three years since he lost in his first attempt at the MCA presidency, circumstances have changed tremendously.
And this is why he is making another tilt at the No. 1 post despite coming up against what is basically the incumbent leadership.
Despite repeated denials, frontrunner Datuk Ong Tee Keat is effectively the handpicked candidate of outgoing president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting, who defeated Chua in 2005.
Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan, Ka Ting's brother, who is running for deputy president, has publicly backed Tee Keat.
When asked by The Malaysian Insider why he felt he had a chance against Tee Keat, Chua replied: "The party is in crisis after being rejected by its own community. Somebody has to save the party, to give it hope to turn the situation around and make it relevant again."
During the interview, he added that he had foreseen what would happen while campaigning three years ago.
"I warned that even in the aftermath of a great victory in the 2004 general election, Umno's hardening and arrogance in not being mindful of the sensitivities meant that, if MCA did not effect real change, it would become increasingly irrelevant," said the former five-term vice-president.
"I wish I hadn't been right so I can continue to be retired happily, but now I am forced back into national service. Now I am telling the central delegates again, if there is no senior leader with a track record of standing up to Umno leaders, then we're going to go down in the next general election."
The former health minister had recently incurred the ire of four Umno supreme council members when he called for the scrapping of the NEP at the launch of his campaign manifesto.
"They called me a racist but they don't realise the NEP is not a programme for just one race but a national programme that affects all Malaysians.
"I am surprised my opponent dismissed the NEP as an old issue," he said referring to Ong's statement that they had both aired their views on it decades ago when they sat together on the National Economic Consultative Council.
"It has impacted millions over the decades and it must come to an end," he insisted and added that the "racial dichotomy" of the NEP would alienate the 800,000 new voters in the next general elections.
Also a five-time consecutive Bakri MP - he did not run this March and subsequently, MCA lost the seat to DAP - he agreed that it was "very clear" that the Oct 18 party polls was crucial.
"It is absolutely important. It is practically a mission for the central delegates. If they choose wrongly, you will see the same old thing. To become relevant again, we need a senior leader who has experience in the Cabinet and Parliament to negotiate with Barisan Nasional especially Umno by coming to them and saying, 'Look we have transformed, so must you.'"
He said that by the next general election, BN had no alternative but to change and stop being race-centric.
"The obvious answer is no," he answered when asked if race-based parties could still be relevant in the future.
However, he added: "If MCA becomes multiracial now, will Malays and Indians join?"
He said the idea of BN merging into one multiracial party depended on "the capacity to change, then we can move towards being multiracial," but he said he could not speak on behalf of Umno or any other component party on this issue.
But he warned that if the status quo remained, "increasingly MCA will feel it does not serve a purpose," adding that there was already a determination at the grassroots for change, and members were prepared for the party to leave BN.
If this were to happen, Chua suggested that the party "call an EGM to collectively make a decision" on its future in the coalition.
- The Malaysian Insider
