KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2 – In just under a week, a grassroots campaign to remove Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat as president of MCA has gathered sufficient quorum as required by the party constitution to convene an extraordinary general meeting.
The campaign was launched last Thursday just hours after Ong’s former deputy and bitter rival, Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek was sacked from the party by the presidential council for tainting the party image via a sex DVD scandal that was exposed two years ago.
The campaign for the EGM is also seeking to overturn the presidential council decision to sack Chua.
In a posting on his blog this evening, Chua said that the campaign has already collected more than 800 signatures, surpassing the minimum signature threshold required, despite initial forecasts that it would take two to three weeks to canvass the nation.
MCA’s constitution requires that at least one third of the party’s roughly 2,400 delegates must back the petition for an EGM to be convened.
“I must say that the response is overwhelming. I wish to thank the grassroots leader who wants to see justice and fair play as well as democracy in the party,” he said.
With the apparent show of grassroots support, it is almost certain that Chua’s supporters will ignore a call from the party secretary general to combine their EGM with one that Ong had himself called on Monday.
“Since we started the idea of the EGM first, it would be a better idea if the President could incorporate his resolution into our resolution. Our resolution is the reflection of the aspiration of the grassroots. The resolution for the EGM initiated by the President is still unknown. The grassroots’ wishes need to be respected if we want to restore democracy in the party,” said Chua.
Ong exercised his power as president to call an EGM to seek the approval from the party’s 2,400 delegates over Chua’s sacking as well as Ong’s leadership and handling of the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal.
With Chua’s supporters having the required number of signatures to convene their own EGM, the race is on to see who will be able to convene their EGM first.
Party secretary general Datuk Wong Foon Meng had yesterday tried to avert a two-EGM scenario, saying it would be a waste of the delegates time and headquarter resources, and gave Chua’s supporters till Friday to submit their agenda for incorporation into Ong’s EGM, which is scheduled to take place sometime before the end of the month.
When contacted, Datuk Theng Book, one of the leaders of the campaign to oust Ong, told The Malaysian Insider said that despite reaching the minimum number of signatures, the nationwide signature collection efforts will continue.
He also said that while he does not speak on Chua’s behalf, he does not plan to submit the EGM agenda to the party headquarters so that it can be incorporated into Ong’s EGM as directed by Wong.
“It’s not constitutional to impose a deadline on us,” he told The Malaysian Insider. “I advise him (Wong) not to confuse the members.”
Asked if he would still push for an EGM if Ong’s EGM goes ahead first, Theng said that they would.
“Even if they pass their resolutions, we can still overthrow it,” he said.
The two EGM scenario is symptomatic of a party split down the middle.
Chua evidently still commands significant grassroots support and has apparently won the backing of two ex-presidents as well as his former rival for deputy president, Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan.
Ong, meanwhile, has the presidential council behind him and many of the central committee members as well.
Ong’s supporters say that Chua’s sacking was done in the best interest of the party while Chua’s supporters claim that Ong is being undemocratic for sacking a man who was voted deputy president by over 1,000 central delegates last year despite resigning from all party and government posts after his sex scandal was exposed.
Chua has also gone on the offensive and continued to attack Ong for allegedly politicising his ministry’s probe of the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal.
While his EGM agenda has not been finalised, Ong is expected to seek the approval of delegates over his handling of the troubled transshipment hub and Chua today alleged that Ong is attempting to gain political mileage from the investigation efforts.
“If the agenda is to endorse the investigation of the PKFZ, then this will be unprecedented. This is the case where the Minister brings his ministerial work and function to the political party for endorsement. It is like using a political party to do a referendum on the Minister’s responsibilities.
“One can then postulate that the PM Najib can bring policy statements to Umno and get it endorsed in the Umno EGM and tell the rakyat that whatever he’s doing is backed by Umno,” said Chua.
“One should not hide under their political party in their discharge of ministerial duty. Therefore, the PKFZ issue should not be politicised. It is the duty of the Minister of Transport and it is his duty to investigate the port and the abuse of power and corruption, if there is any. The PM and the cabinet has endorsed the Ministry of Transport’s investigation of the PKFZ.
“Thus, the notion that only the (MCA) President dares to conduct an investigation of the PKFZ and that no one in BN is supporting him is misleading.”
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