Rug pulled from under rivals
It was a brave gambit by MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat striking a deal with his former enemy Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek to forge a ‘greater unity plan’ that would eliminate a minnow
By Baradan Kuppusamy, The Star
MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat has done it again — pulled the rug from under the feet of his political rivals in a brave gambit to stay on top. Last week, he turned the tables on them by calling for another EGM when they tried to force him out.
This time, Ong surprised his erstwhile supporter-turned-detractor Datuk Liow Tiong Lai, the Health Minister and vice-president, who was elevated to the deputy president’s post by the party’s Central Committee last Thursday.
When Ong narrowly lost a confidence vote in the Oct 10 EGM, Liow had moved swiftly to force Ong to leave by getting some 20 CC members to sign a petition for his resignation.
Ong turned the tables on them by ordering party secretary-general Datuk Wong Foon Meng to call for another EGM and let delegates decide whether to confirm the current CC or hold fresh elections, something Liow and his backers were dead against.
With the other challenger Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek defeated after delegates refused to reinstate him as deputy president, Liow got Dr Chua’s job by default and if he had succeeded in forcing Ong out, the MCA president’s post would have fallen into his lap.
Liow would have made political history by winning the top two posts in the MCA, the biggest Chinese party in the region, all within a fortnight and without MCA delegates having a say in the matter.
It would have been an astounding achievement because Liow did not even come out first among the four MCA vice-presidents elected in the 2008 party elections.
But Ong pulled the rug from under Liow by reaching out and striking a deal with Dr Chua, his former enemy who has been trying to oust him, in a deal endorsed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak himself.
It is an amazing agreement between the two feuding giants, who had fought for over a year to try to wipe each other out but suddenly came together to eliminate a minnow, Liow.
Their “greater unity plan” leaves Liow, who is also fighting accusations that he had betrayed Ong, in the cold with a cloud over his once sterling future.
Worse, Liow’s post as deputy president is in jeopardy after Dr Chua appealed to the Registrar of Societies to reinstate him as deputy president on grounds that he can only be removed by two-thirds of the delegates.
If the Registrar decides to reinstate Dr Chua, Liow might be “demoted” to vice-president, an embarrassing about-turn for this rising politician who, MCA insiders say, might have fatally overplayed his hand in the crisis.
Not only is Liow fighting the “traitor” allegations, MCA members are also taking offence at his recent statements – that he had not yet met Ong to end their enmity when he had already met the latter twice to allegedly demand the MCA presidency and force him to call off the new EGM.
Furthemore, it is emerging that Liow might have had links with the “third force” that has been blamed for the unexpected outcome of the Oct 10 EGM.
It was this situation that had allowed Liow and his supporters to make their now famous failed coup attempt.
It is widely believed that the power behind the third force includes past MCA luminaries like former president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting, former deputy president Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy and former secretary-general Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan, who was defeated by Dr Chua in the deputy president’s contest last year.
Their aim was to dethrone the crusading Ong and put a “friendlier party” as MCA president, MCA insiders said.
But now that the two giants have patched up and between them control nearly 90% of delegates, the third force and their backers — inside and outside the MCA — have little room to manoeuvre, unless the giants resume their feud.
The agreement between the two giants was truly unexpected. When asked to explain it, Dr Chua smiled and said: “Don’t you know that politics is the art of making the impossible possible, and the possible impossible!”
