What a Slimy Proposal

Why MCA can’t be without both Ong and Chua

Ong Tee Keat

Chua Soi Lek

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 7, 2009) : Suspended MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek says the president and deputy president cannot leave the party at the same time as it would leave the leaderless MCA facing another crisis.

Speaking to the Chinese press ahead of the weekend extraordinary general meeting (EGM), Chua said he will accept the outcome of the EGM, even if it results in both he and party president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat being voted out.

But if that is the case, MCA will see an unprecedented "leadership vacuum", he warned.

When told that former party president Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik and his deputy Tan Sri Lim Ah Lek quit at the same time to resolve their conflicts and their successors were subsequently picked by the central committee, Chua said the situation now is different.

"If the No. 1 and No. 2 leave now, who is going to chair the central committee (CC) meeting? Can the CC and vice-presidents take over directly (from the top two)? This is disputable."

"And who can guarantee that there won’t be confusion? Who would be the secretary-general? We will be like a pack without a leader," Sin Chew Daily quoted him as saying.

He said that will put MCA in another long-lasting crisis.

"We have already wasted one year, and are left with only two years to prepare for the next general election. As a party, we can’t afford to lose more, otherwise there is no value for the party to continue to exist."

On the other hand, he said, if the delegates pick him over Ong, he will only be a transitional president until the next party election.

"I will be (there for) only the transitional period. Not even a full term but one year plus."

Chua, who had quit all government and party posts at the beginning of last year because of a sex DVD scandal, made a comeback at the party election last October and won the deputy president’s post.

Asked if he would stick to his insistence that he would not accept a cabinet post should he become the transitional president, Chua said in no uncertain term: "Yes, I will not become a minister."

He said MCA must reunite after the EGM and the top leadership must be open and broad-minded to be able to accept dissenting views and be willing to listen to the grassroots.