Soi Lek now sides with Tee Keat against central committee, EGM

Whoever said politics makes for strange bedfellows must have had MCA in mind. Beleaguered party president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat has found an unlikely ally – his erstwhile arch-foe Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, who said in Johor Baru tonight that the party should let the peace plan be implemented instead and that another EGM would be a waste of time.

Another EGM has been requisitioned by 16 central committee members to pave the way for fresh elections. Under the party constitution, an EGM must now be held because at least one third of central committee members have asked for it.

Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, who was recently appointed the deputy president to replace Dr Chua, has also thrown his weight behind the pro-EGM group.

Liow said earlier today that, if necessary, the central committee could resign en masse to compel fresh polls.

Dr Chua said tonight that the peace plan should be implemented and said he was shocked to find leaders who had earlier backed Ong now turning against him.

He believes that “some people” whom he did not name were now eyeing higher posts in the party.

Dr Chua said he backed the peace plan which he felt should include the interests of all factions, including that of Liow.

The crisis was initially sparked by Ong’s move to sack Dr Chua, who was elected MCA deputy president last October.

This resulted in an EGM at which Ong lost a confidence vote by a wafer-thin margin while Dr Chua’s membership was restored although delegates refused to specifically reinstate him as MCA No 2.

Ong subsequently reneged on his word and refused to resign. Instead he relied on the party constitution which says he can only be removed by a two-thirds majority vote in an EGM.

Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Datuk Seri Najib Razak then stepped in to broker a peace plan between the two men.

The Malaysian Insider understands that the peace plan would see the party appointments carved out between supporters of the two men.

But it is also understood that the plan could see a schedule for the eventual exit of both men.

But with no details revealed publicly, uneasiness and niggling doubts have set in, leading to central committee members calling for another EGM and fresh polls.

Despite losing control of his party, Ong has refused to back down and appears determined to stay on.

Despite the backing of his enemy Dr Chua, the peace plan still appears doomed because of the intense animosity created by the crisis.

Fresh polls, which is not a prospect that Najib had wanted to see in BN’s second biggest component party, could also see damaging blood-letting.


comments

Do you think the fresh poll will solve the issues.....NO...!
It is the battling of powers and monies....
The black magic hand try to cover up PKFZ....mother of all scandals in MCA ...
So kill the source of the illness rather than the sympton... the 16 musketeers ...