Below the radar, MCA war rages in blogs

After months of verbal jousting over the media, MCA leaders enjoyed a relatively quiet December as the warring factions laid down their arms after Barisan Nasional chairperson Najib Abdul Razak enforced a cease fire.

Though the MCA generals have stayed off the battlefield, they are still not safe from sniper fire by enemy proxies who call themselves 'MCA bloggers'.

Of late, groups of bloggers have been setting up meetings with several top MCA leaders but the one that garnered the most attention was a meeting with party president Ong Tee Keat.

After months of trying, a group of nine bloggers finally secured the meet over high-tea in an upmarket Chinese restaurant in Subang Jaya on Dec 22.

Soon after the meeting, Ong's insight on the ongoing crisis quickly trickled to the press and websites of the respective bloggers, which led to a trail of finger pointing over who started the tussle in MCA.

Ong reportedly told the bloggers that youth chief and rival Wee Ka Siong was responsible for the complaint letter lodged against deputy president Dr Chua Soi Lek for tarnishing the party after his sex DVD scandal.

Who pushed for DVD probe?

Wee was subsequently forced to deny any involvement through the press and instead accused Ong of pushing the disciplinary committee to investigate Chua, which found the latter guilty.

Soon after, Wee was approached by another blogger Lim Fang at a function and a subsequent blog entry sent more tongues wagging.

This time, Wee had apparently alluded that Chua should gang up with vice-president Liow Tiong Lai's faction in order to topple Ong.

Wee later told reporters that Lim Fang's account was "not entirely accurate" as he was merely suggesting that the two join forces to force the requisite number of resignations from the central committee to pave the way for fresh polls.

Currently, the MCA crisis has evolved into a battle for fresh polls.

Liow's faction is pushing for immediate fresh polls in response to a no-confidence vote passed against Ong during an Extraordinary General Assembly (EGM) last October.

Ong's faction is bent on delaying the polls till August to enable a revamp of the party election system and widening the voter base.

Waiting for almost a year before fresh polls is also likely to slow the Liow faction's momentum.

Chua also affected

Though inclined towards fresh polls albeit in March, Chua has found himself caught in the crossfire as bloggers continue to speak on behalf of top MCA leaders.

On Tuesday, Chua held a press conference exclusively for the Chinese press, possibly to avoid attention of the wider public, to address some issues raised in the blogs.

Chief among them was that Chua knew exactly who had instructed a MCA leader to lodge a disciplinary complaint against him in 2008, which has been described by many observers as the root cause of the current party crisis.

According to Chua, the person was one of three deputy ministers from Johor with "limited command of English" and an elected central committee member. He ruled out Wee.

Chinese dailies today narrowed down the possibilities to Wee Jack Seng, a staunch supporter of Liow and purported key player in the MCA snoop squad controversy.

According to the reports, Jack Seng has refused to comment on Chua's allegations.

Though little known outside the MCA circle, bloggers are evidently playing a significant role in providing a new platform for the warring leaders to continue their tussle, below the radar of their BN bosses.

Najib and his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin have endorsed fresh polls but also instructed the various factions to stop their public spat which have intensified since August.