KEJATUHAN ONG TEE KEAT

LETTER According to MCA little birds, former MCA president Ong Tee Keat was known to have abhorred the arrogance of power perpetrated by Umno in Barisan Nasional (BN). He was labelled by Umno as anti-Malay through its mouth-pieces in the 2008 General Election. He created another wave shortly after the political tsunami when he openly expressed his strong disagreement over Ketuanan Melayu in his capacity as a minister. That earned him several brickbats from his coalition partners.

What further alienated him from Umno was the opinion poll on whether MCA should pull out from BN in his blog after he assumed the MCA Presidency. This was said to have really irked Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s administration. It was believed that Tee Keat’s insistence on having “leaving BN” as an option had indeed precipitated the determination of Umno top brass to remove Ong in the long run. They grabbed the opportunity when the duly elected MCA leaders like Liow Tiong Lai, Wee Ka Siong (once aligned to Tee Keat) felt insecure when Tee Keat went on to spearhead the multi-billion-ringgit Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) financial scandal probe with gusto. Both were known to have strong links with Tiong King Sing (the key contractor implicated in the PKFZ probe who is known to have the confidence of the Umno top brass).

Tiong has so far been holding the chairmanship of BN Backbenchers’ Club unscathed despite the strong adverse publicity implicating his involvement in the PKFZ scandal.

Whilst the then Wanita MCA chief Chew Mei Fun (known to have remained loyal to Ong Ka Ting and Ong Ka Chuan (Ka Ting’s elder brother who was later dropped as a minister) had also placed their hope on the Umno top brass in view of Tee Keat’s unpredictable move of contemplating to leave BN.

Leaving the BN

Both the Liow and Ka Chuan cliques realised the latent danger that Chua Soi Lek (the then Deputy President of MCA) might ascend to the presidency should Tee Keat be toppled. They craftily designed a conspiracy to eliminate both Tee Keat and Chua through Chua’s disciplinary case.

According to MCA insiders, in all fairness, the case was instituted against Chua not by Tee Keat but by his predecessor Ka Ting who left the case open-ended. That had warranted Tee Keat to act later under the heavy influence of Liow, Wee, and Chew in the Presidential Council.

The expulsion decision meted on Chua’s disciplinary case (over the sex DVD scandal) triggered by the Presidential Council was indeed a masterstroke as the trio (Liow, Wee and Chew) managed to influence the decision of the Council while hiding behind the shield of Tee Keat. So, Tee Keat had to bear the full blame in the eyes of the Umno top brass who had earlier wanted Tee Keat to stop or to defer the disciplinary proceedings against Chua. Tee Keat was known to be overly gung-ho by giving an uncompromising “No”. Both Najib and Umno vice president Hishammuddin Hussein, who were then engaging Tee Keat on the issue, were said to have hit the roof top over Tee Keat’s recalcitrant stance. They dubbed him as unpredictable, uncompromising and unfriendly to Umno.

PKFZ

What actually served as the last straw breaking the camel’s back was Tee Keat’s resistance to Naji’'s demand for the Port Klang Authority (PKA) to pay Kuala Dimensi (the controversial turnkey contractor in the PKFZ scandal) the hefty bond interest due. Tee Keat was quoted as arguing that the disputable bond interest payment had to be held in abbeyance in the public’s interest, whilst Najib was wary of the bond market confidence.

When the various factions thirsted for Tee Keat’s blood managed to oust him at the behest of Umno, Najib ultimately chose to oust him from his Cabinet on the rationale that the ministerial appointments are party-based. Since Chua made the recommendation to replace Tee Keat, Najib willingly obliged.

But the mockery was Najib’s action came on heels of the assessment of his six National Key Result Areas (NKRAs) where the opinion poll rating in favour of the Tee Keat-led Public Transport revamp ranked top.

That, the MCA insiders say, is the reward for performance or in terms of the next general election, a winnable candidate for BN?

The moral of a politician’s story in the BN is: “Don’t be a smart ass! Just say yes to Umno to remain relevant for the crumbs.

- Lee Kee is a reader of Malaysia Chronicle. These are his views, which Malaysia Chronicle has not been able to verify and is publishing in good faith for readers to judge for themselves.