How Ong Ka Ting Masterminded His Political Comeback

LETTERS/SURAT

Thursday, 25 March 2010 admin-s

By Chiselled Stone

MCA presidential aspirant Ong Ka Ting, contrary to popular belief, did not retire from politics after not seeking re-election at the party polls in 2008. He was busy doing what he does best - conspiring and hatching sinister plots. And he was about to mastermind the greatest MCA comeback in history - that of his own, to re-claim the party presidency.

It started even before he gave up his post. On grounds of impartiality, as the then MCA president, Ong Ka Ting decided not to stir the hornet's nest with the complaint lodged by a Johor leader against Dr Chua's DVD case. Instead, Ka Ting decided to pass the time bomb to his successor, Ong Tee Keat.

He knew that the stupid and arrogant Ong Tee Keat could not stand the sight of Dr Chua Soi Lek. That's when Ka Ting made use of Wanita chief and on-off girlfriend, Chew Mei Fun to instigate Tee Keat to sack the duly-elected Health Minister on grounds that Dr Chua was a disgrace to the party.

Poor Tee Keat took the bait hook, line and sinker. The wheels of Ong Ka Ting's return was set in motion the day the disciplinary board proceeded with Dr Chua's case. By doing so, Ka Ting knew the party would be split into two. True to Ka Ting's expectations, Dr Chua called for an EGM.

During the weeks leading to the Oct 10 EGM, Ka Ting took firm control of the maneouverings with the backing of his brother, Ka Chuan. And thus, The Third Force came into being.

Using his extensive network, Ka Ting got his boys and girls to ensure both Tee Keat and Dr Chua were ousted during the EGM. The "bonus" came when Tee Keat was hoodwinked into agreeing to accept the resolutions by Dr Chua's faction in toto.

(The then legal bureau head, Leong Tang Chong, was instrumental in Tee Keat arriving at the decision, made on the 7th Floor of the Ministry of Transport hours before negotiations on the EGM from both sides were to commence. Leong Tang Chong, who was rumoured to be romantically-linked to a pseudo blogger, was Ka Ting's appointee in The Star as it's chairman.)

By accepting Dr Chua's resolutions without any changes, Ka Ting knew the president and the deputy were as good as gone. He knew that when both sides were almost equally-strong, a few votes difference was all it took to get rid of both. And the 10/10 EGM proved just that. Tee Keat lost the no-confidence motion by a mere 14 votes.

Although Ka Ting miscalculated the readiness of Tee Keat and Dr Chua to patch up so quickly after the EGM, the ex-president was back on his feet in no time. He got Liow Tiong Lai to lead his (Ka Ting's) own men like Ho Kok Chung, Wee Jeck Seng and Chew Mei Fun into submitting their conditional resignation letters.

And then, using intermidiaries like Tan Sri Tan Kay Hock from Johan Holdings, he instigated Dr Chua's boys into doing the same. He fuelled the mistrust between Tee Keat and Dr Chua and convinced Dr Chua's supporters that they had the largest bloc of votes and Dr Chua should not play second fiddle to Tee Keat.

March 4 came and Dr Chua could no longer hold his boys, hence the mass resignation which triggered the fresh poll.

And even before it hit Dr Chua, Ka Ting had already placed his boys all over the country asking them to plead for his return. Then, he dropped another hint in a NTV7 interview saying he would return if need be. By the time Ka Ting made the announcement official, Dr Chua's gameplan for the poll was already out of the window. It was back to the drawing board for a new series of horse-trading, number-crunching and clandestine discussions.

That was why Dr Chua held back the official announcement until less than 24 hours before nominations. Others like Kong Cho Har and Liow also announced late, thanks to Ka Ting who finally came out to foil their plans which did not factor in the Ka Ting equation.

So, there you have it. A master politician, who's a genius in scheming and plotting. And one who delivered the votes to Pakatan Rakyat on a silver platter during the last general election. God bless MCA to have such a talented leader.