KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 – Just moments after learning that the disciplinary committee had called for his expulsion tonight, Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek stopped short of calling for party members to remove Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat as MCA president but he did call for an uprising.
“I have confidence that MCA members will not let one man destroy the party. It will be a sad day for MCA that if we do not rise to the challenge of saving the party.
“Comrades who love the party will come to realise that it’s time to stand up and unite to save the party. Otherwise, we will soon fade into oblivion,” he said.
With the move by Ong to have Dr Chua thrown out, plans by the party No 2’s supporters to call for an extraordinary general meeting are expected to be quickly put into motion.
Yesterday, six party divisions in Perak had openly called for Ong to be suspended over allegations made by Barisan Nasional (BN) backbenchers chief Tiong King Sing that he had personally donated RM10 million to MCA through Ong.
The allegations have been denied by Ong, but his reputation has been severely damaged while many in MCA see the party being dragged into the president’s personal tiff with Tiong.
Dr Chua said the effort to remove him came as no surprise because he claimed there had been a sustained attempt by the party president to subvert the wishes of the rank and file by “ending my political career.”
The MCA No 2 faced dismissal today for tarnishing the party’s image after the party disciplinary committee dredged up the issue of him being secretly filmed in bed with his mistress in late 2007. He had in 2008 resigned as minister and from party posts to take responsibility for the scandal.
But last October, he overcame the odds and won re-election as MCA deputy president. Ong has seen him as a major political threat since then.
Despite his denials, Ong is seen as the man behind the disciplinary panel’s decision to go ahead with its hearing against Dr Chua even though the complainant had withdrawn his complaint.
Dr Chua said tonight that, for party members, doing nothing was not an option now, in what will be seen as a call to his supporters to challenge Ong.
“The MCA President has outlined three main agenda for the party: Economic, Politics and Inter-racial Harmony. But in reality, it appears that his most important political agenda is to remove Chua Soi Lek.
“Now, I hope he can sleep well,” Chua said. “But not all of us have that luxury. For those of us who love the MCA, our work has just begun.”
Dr Chua said that it was an open secret that those who were not on the same page as the party president are regarded as his enemies or a threat.
He said that dissenters were labeled as “anti-MCA, gangsters, and cooperating with businessmen by taking money to topple him.”
“Today, it is not about Chua Soi Lek, nor is it about Ong Tee Keat. It is about MCA, as the second largest component party of BN, still drifting without direction and purpose. It has been more than 16 months since the March 8 general election but there has been little evidence of change.”
He said there had been no closing of ranks while morale remained low and suspicion, the order of the day.
The results of the Permatang Pasir by-election won by PAS with strong Chinese backing, he said, was evidence of how far the party had slipped.
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