KUALA LUMPUR, March 29 – The Najib administration will see its first reshuffle soon after two ministers lost their positions in the MCA elections in which Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek (picture) made a political comeback by winning the party presidency.
The new MCA president will oversee the choice of candidates for Datuk Seri Najib Razak to consider if he decides to replace Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat and Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Kong Chong Ha, both lost in yesterday’s race.
It is understood that the changes could be delayed until after the Hulu Selangor by-election where MIC deputy president Datuk G. Palanivel could run and be in line for a Cabinet appointment if he wins the seat for the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.
“At this stage, to focus on party rather than government position. I think April would be good to do the reshuffle either mid or end of that month... Najib can evaluate his Cabinet after first year appointed as the prime minister,” said Universiti Sains Malaysia political analyst Associate Professor Sivamurugan Pandian.
“The president needs a government position besides [being] appointed as BN’s service centre director,” Sivamurugan noted, referring to Dr Chua’s job as the BN co-ordinator in Pakatan Rakyat-ruled states.
Associate Professor Dr Ahmad Nizamuddin Sulaiman from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia also felt that Dr Chua needs a Cabinet position in order to provide effective leadership.
However he assumed that Najib will have his new Cabinet after the Hulu Selangor by-election, the date of which will be decided at the end of this week.
“In terms of Cabinet position, I think that Tee Keat will resign before he being dropped as Minister of Transport... and for time being, I also think that Dr Chua will remain outside the Cabinet,” he said.
As the delegates have chosen a mixed lineup, including Liow as number two, rather than Kong, the health minister will also need to show undivided support and loyalty to Dr Chua as the new president to build back the MCA.
“I have strong a feeling that Dr Chua will get greater support in the MCA as the new president,” he added.
While Dr Chua was able to win with 901 votes, the veteran politician still has to appease the 1,411 delegates who voted for Tan Sri Ong Ka Ting and Tee Keat.
Political analyst Khoo Kay Peng said that Dr Chua must carefully thread his way through the different party personalities.
“He has just won the presidency so we have to see his announcement and how he is going to deal with two ministers who just lost in the election. We have to see whether he has learned from his own experience. Even though he must accommodate Liow but we also cannot rule out the five hundred-odd delegates that voted for Tee Keat,” he told The Malaysian Insider.
Khoo said the party president must decide whether to strip Tee Keat and Kong of their ministerial positions.
“He has made the announcement that he will not be seeking a ministerial position and what you see is that there are four newly elected vice-presidents. By convention the VPs [are] made ministers. Two of the ministers have lost their position in the party. How is he going to deal with that?” he added.
The four new vice-presidents - Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen (1,528), Datuk Donald Lim (1,469), Datuk Chor Chee Heung (1,202) and Gan Ping Sieu (1,202) — are each linked to one of the three rival presidential candidates.
Ng is a known ally of Dr Chua while Chor is close to Liow and Gan with Tee Keat.
In his bid to re-unify a divided party, Dr Chua must negotiate with his deputy as he appoints eight central committee (CC) members and 10 members to the presidential council.
The new president must also decide whether to include Youth chief Datuk Wee Ka Siong and Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun in the presidential council. They were removed by Tee Keat after they were seen to be close allies of Liow.
He will also have to appoint his own secretary-general, treasurer-general, and national organising secretary.
But Dr Chua’s biggest challenge is to recover support and to reassert the MCA’s political relevance in the Chinese community.
James Chin believes that Dr Chua’s presidency will have no significant impact as the MCA has already lost its credibility in the community.
“There are no implications because the MCA will still be off track to lose the next general election even with Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek as the president. However, I suspect the reason why he won is because the delegates voted for him so that he could put things in order before the next general election.
“I don’t think he will be able to recover the Chinese ground if the election is held this year,” the academician said.
Merdeka Center director Ibrahim Suffian stressed that Dr Chua must resolve the party’s internal crisis before gaining public confidence.
“Dr Chua definitely has a mandate to re-unite the party but given the fact that he has18 months before the next party elections, I don’t think he has the time to do so.
“He definitely could try to regain the support of the Chinese community but he has bigger problems than that, in trying to solve the internal problems in the MCA,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment