Chua still has to face the music

(Malaysian Mirror) – Last year, Simpang Renggam MCA division chairman Eng Cheng Guan filed a complaint with the party’s disciplinary committee requesting action against deputy president Dr Chua Soi Lek.

Eng alleged Dr Chua’s involvement in a sex DVD case had tarnished the party’s reputation and image and he had also breached the code of conduct for MCA members by appearing in the DVD.

On Thursday, however, Eng said he was withdrawing the complaint and had no intention to pursue the case anymore.

This has now put a question mark on the scheduled hearing of the case on Aug 4. Will it still be held? 

The complaint was made in May last year. A five-member committee headed by former party secretary-general and former health minister Ng Cheng Kiat decided to conduct the hearing, which had been put on hold before the party elections last October.

Eng: My own decision to withdraw

In late 2007, copies of a DVD, said to have been recorded by some parties unknown to Dr Chua, showed him and a woman engaging in a sexual act. The DVD was widely circulated in Johor and other places.

Chua, the health minister at that time, admitted he was the male partner in the DVD.

Soon after that, he resigned from all government and party posts. He was left out as a candidate in the March 2008 general election but was elected the MCA deputy president seven months later.

Eng had requested the party to take action against Chua in a letter dated May 28, 2008.

He had addressed the complaint to former deputy president and head of the MCA disciplinary committee Chan Kong Choy, who has since stepped down from the posts after last year’s October party polls.

Chua was issued a notice earlier this month to appear before the MCA disciplinary committee on Aug 4.

Eng told Bernama on Friday that his decision to withdraw the case was his own and he was not told or pressured by anyone to do so.

“It has been long enough. In politics, even one day is considered long. I made the complaint in 2008. It’s already been more than a year now,” he told the news agency.

One of 40 outstanding cases

Dr Chua’s case is one of 40 outstanding cases to be investigated by the disciplinary committee, but he said he was puzzled by the motive behind the decision to summon him, more than one and a half years after the incident.

However, party sources told Bernama that the committee would proceed with the hearing as Eng's complaint had been adopted by the party's presidential council (PC), which referred it to the committee after it was established that there was a prima facie case.

"We regard this as a complaint from the PC. Whether he (Eng) has withdrawn the complaint or not, it's not important anymore," a source said.

"The disciplinary committee has every right to proceed with the hearing and investigation. This is like you lodge a police report. You cannot withdraw," the source added.