October 19, 2008 16:08 PM

MCA's Marriage Between The "Saint" And "Morally Tainted"

By Alan Ting and S. Retnanathan

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 (Bernama) -- Last night, the 2,378 delegates to the 55th general assembly of the MCA, the country's second largest political party, delivered their verdict at the party polls, picking Datuk Ong Tee Keat and Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek as president and deputy president respectively.

Despite knowing very well that the two leaders have contrasting backgrounds and political experience, the delegates with their ballots wanted them to work as a team to revive the biggest Chinese-based political party in the country and win back the hearts and minds of the community, which deserted the MCA in the March 8 general election.

However, grassroot leaders and political pundits predict that the party is heading for choppy waters, as Ong and Dr Chua have too many differences and had been hitting out against each other in the run-up to the MCA elections over the last two months.

"They don't see eye to eye. That is the fact," a division leader, who did not wish to be named, told Bernama.

Chang Aik Ming, an aide to Datuk Chua Jui Meng who lost in the presidency race to Ong yesterday, said it would be interesting to see how these two newly elected MCA top leaders would patch up their differences and work to regain the support of the Malaysian Chinese community.

However, political analyst Dr Oh Ei Sun begged to differ from the view that the two leaders could not work together and there would be more political turmoil in the party.

"This is democracy. They voted in leaders from different camps. As I see it, the delegates wanted to put in a proper check-and-balance system. They did not want a single camp being too powerful as it had been in the past.

"They also showed that they wanted leaders with substance and willing to sacrifice for the people, mainly the Chinese community," Dr Oh said.

Datuk Theng Book, the pro-tem chairman of the "Save the MCA" team, set up to remove former president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting after MCA suffered a massive defeat at the historic March 8 general election, felt that the verdict of the delegates yesterday was good for MCA.

This, he said, was based on the ouster of the two Ong brothers -- Ong Ka Ting and former secretary-general and elder brother Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan, who failed in his bid for the deputy president post.

"With this, the number one and number two can work towards building a stronger MCA. I do not see Tee Keat and Soi Lek having any problem working side by side," he added.

Former MCA secretary-general and party veteran Tan Sri Dr Ting Chew Peh shares Theng's views.

"There should be no problem working as a team. The war of words prior to the party elections is normal. It is just that both (Tee Keat and Dr Chua) have strong personalities. But you have to bear in mind that they have a common goal, which is to re-invent the party. I do not see any problem in the future," he added.

Dr Oh felt that the selection of "a mixed team" at the polls yesterday had ushered a new era in the MCA, where grassroot leaders wanted leaders "to figure out" a way to work together even if they were from different camps.

The bad blood between Tee Keat and Dr Chua came to a boil in the run-up to the party elections after the former called the latter a "morally tainted leader".

To this, Dr Chua, the former health minister, launched his arsenal of attack, labelling Tee Keat as a leader behaving like "a saint".

The win by the medical doctor from Batu Pahat, Johor, yesterday marked his return to active politics after he resigned from all party and government positions after a video of him in a "compromising position" with his girlfriend was made public late last year.

His return also saw his close allies make it to the top leadership. Among those said to be aligned to Dr Chua are former Youth chief Datuk Liow Tiong Lai, who is now Health Minister, Deputy Home Minister Datuk Kong Cho Ha and Johor MCA deputy chief Tan Kok Hong.

They filled three of the four vice-president seats at the polls yesterday.

The remaining one veep post went to former Wanita chief Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen, who created party history by becoming the first female vice-president. In fact, Dr Ng also holds the record of being the first and only female woman vice-president of a Barisan Nasional (BN) component party.

Former MCA vice-president Datuk Yap Pian Hon, who lost the veep race yesterday, said it was a known fact that Dr Ng and the newly elected president did not have much in common. He contradicted predictions that the newly elected leaders would work as a team.

"Most people know that Dr Ng does not see eye to eye with Tee Keat. On the other hand, Kong and Tan (Kok Heng) are not confrontational leaders. But they are more aligned to Dr Chua.

"With nearly half of the line-up not on Ong's (Tee Keat) side. I do not think there will be peace in the party after this," he added.

While this is the scenario at the top, at least seven of the 25 elected MCA Central Committee (CC) members are said to be staunch supporters of Dr Chua.

Dr Chua's CC "supporters" are said to be led by his former political secretary, Tee Siew Kiong. Although at present there are only seven Dr Chua's "supporters" in the CC, Yap pointed out that in politics, chances of other CC members "shifting" camp were high.

"Dr Chua is known to be an ambitious leader. His capability to rope in others cannot be ruled out. He is also very capable of pulling surprises. Just look at the elections. He won despite not being in party or government posts.

"I am concerned that there will be a clash between supporters of the two camps. This is a fact in politics," he added.

However, after the announcement of the results, Ong and Dr Chua poured cold water to this issue by saying that they would bury the hatchet and work as a team for the sake of the party and community.

"The important thing is to expedite party reforms. We also need to put aside our differences of the past and move forward," were Ong's (Tee Keat) brave words after the announcement of the results.

Dr Chua too downplayed the question of animosity between the top two leaders, saying that criticising was common in the party and that "in a big party like MCA, leaders can agree to disagree, reach consensus and work together".

Whether the pledge of the two leaders will come true, remains to be seen. If this does not materialise, then Ong Tee Keat will be left singing his favourite song, "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" by Elvis Presley.

-- BERNAMA

We provide (subscription-based) 
news coverage in our Newswire service.