Media Statement by Chia Seia Yang
Over the past two weeks, various MCA leaders have come forward to raise queries over Deputy Education Minister, Dato’ Dr Wee Ka Siong’s relationship with the owner of Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) turnkey contractor, Dato’ Seri Tiong King Sing. Many had asked Wee to clear the air over the grave allegations about his involvement with Tiong, who has trained his guns at MCA president Dato’ Sri Ong Tee Keat over the PKFZ issue.
While many of these questions have gone unanswered, I have with me some documented evidence which may cast a long shadow over Wee’s integrity. Wee had earlier said that he had divested his stake in Hijau Sekitar Sdn Bhd since becoming the Deputy Education Minister in March 2008. If that is the case, why did his name still appear as owning 490,000-plus shares in Hijau Sekitar Sdn Bhd, based on a company search dated January 7, 2010?
The search says the information is updated as at January 1, 2009, which is some nine months since he became a Deputy Minister.
Upon becoming a Deputy Minister, Wee had to divest or declare his shares as part of his assets to the Prime Minister. Since he said he had divested the shares when he took up a Cabinet post, does it mean that he did not declare those shares to the Prime Minister?
Was Wee telling the truth when he said that he had divested his shares in Hijau Sekitar? As a senior politician, didn’t Wee know that he had to give up his stake following his promotion as Deputy Minister, some 22 months ago? Is Wee now going to change his script, just like how he did when he earlier said he did not do work for free for Tiong but subsequently changed the story?
The documents from the Companies Commission of Malaysia do not lie. If that is the case, who is lying?
Over the past two weeks, many other queries were thrown at Wee over many damaging speculations. Among them include the sheer reluctance of Wee, as the MCA Youth chief, to play a more aaggressive role to champion the PKFZ issue, especially considering the Transport Minister then had come under intense attacks from detractors over this controversy. Questions had also been raised over why Wee had earlier said that his company, Hijau Sekitar Sdn Bhd had done work for free but subsequently said it was not the case. Wee had also failed to answer queries about whether as lead consultant, he had inside information about the massive developments taking place in PKFZ around 2005 and whether or not he had hoped to piggy back on the mega transshipment project (PKFZ) by proposing to build a new port next door.
To me, these are legitimate questions which are not only asked in the media but are on top of the minds of many people and MCA members. For the public, they want to know whether or not a senior Government leader had been sincere, given the vicious and swirling rumours concerning his role in the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal. The public wants to know whether Wee could live up to the expectations of transparency and accountability.
For MCA members, they want to know how close is Wee and Tiong and the extent in which the relationship had impacted the crisis in MCA. Party members, including myself, want to know whether Wee’s political considerations vis-a-vis the MCA crisis is influenced by external factors.
Alas, after about two weeks, Wee’s response had been muted. He had failed to come clean on many of the queries raised, and by doing so, he had allowed the public to cast aspersions on his integrity and trustworthiness. While I may or may not agree with such widespread negative public perception about him, if nothing is done about it, the MCA’s image will be severely dented.
Why has Wee not come out to openly and aggressively dispel some of the damning allegations about him, whether in cyberspace or legitimate print media? Does Wee have something to hide? Or is he too busy toppling certain party leaders that he had forgotten about the necessity to safeguard his own image and integrity? Or is Wee privvy to certain information that he did not think it is necessary to respond?
Wee needs to come clean this time and cannot afford to ignore an image problem that is ballooning by the day. If he does not do so, he has to resort to the honourable thing and resign as Deputy Education Minister and MCA Youth chief.
Chia Seia Yang 谢升远
MCA Youth CC member
THE DOCUMENTS CAN BE READ HERE: http://malaysia-today.net/files/HijauSekitar.pdf
