SOI LEK SACKED
By Lee Wei Lian
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 – The split in the MCA took a turn for the worse tonight with the presidential council deciding to sack deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, on the recommendation of the party’s disciplinary committee.
The expulsion of Dr Chua is ostensibly his punishment for tarnishing the party’s image over the disclosure in late 2007 of a secret recording showing him engaging in sex acts with his mistress.
He had resigned as a minister and from all party posts last year after admitting to being the man in the footage, but won in the party elections last October as deputy president of MCA.
But Dr Chua and party president Ong have been barely on speaking terms.
"This evening after much deliberation the presidential council made a decision to accept the disciplinary's recommendation to expel Chua from the party with immediate effect," Ong told reporters tonight, while reading from a prepared text.
He said he would explain the decision to sack Dr Chua to Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Datuk Seri Najib Razak. Ong also said that Dr Chua had 14 days to appeal the decision to the party's central committee.
The Malaysian Insider understands Najib was shocked at the decision, as are other Umno and BN leaders, as many of them feel that an MCA on a path of destruction is the last thing the ruling coalition needs.
Ong has denied being behind the decision to dredge up his deputy’s sex scandal even though the party’s disciplinary committee had decided early this month to go ahead with a hearing despite the fact that the complainant had withdrawn the allegation.
The party’s decision today will be seen as a move by Ong to shore up his own position in the party, but brings him on a collision course with MCA’s senior partner in the Barisan Nasional (BN), Umno.
"Maybe by sacking me, Ong believes he can sleep better and the party will be more stable," said Dr Chua.
He said he would not join the opposition and denied being behind a move to call an EGM, although he would endorse it to save the party.
Asked if the disciplinary board gave any grounds for recommending a sacking, he replied: "I tarnished the party image. That is a severe crime. I am lucky they did not sentence me to death."
Dr Chua had only recently been appointed by Najib as BN’s coordinator in Pakatan Rakyat-held states.
Ong has also been in a beleaguered position in recent weeks because of his ongoing tiff with BN backbenchers’ chairman Datuk Tiong King Sing over the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal.
Tiong, the CEO of PKFZ turnkey contractor Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd (KDSB), has accused Ong of taking a RM10 million donation and for taking free flights on the company’s private jets.
Ong has, in turn, filed a RM500 million lawsuit against Tiong, in an escalation of the open quarrel which has badly embarrassed BN.
Umno leaders have urged Ong to settle the dispute with Tiong, but the transport minister is now attempting to portray himself as someone who has been trying to expose wrongdoings over the PKFZ scandal.
The tough action against Dr Chua today will be seen as an attempt by Ong to shore up his own position as there are now rumblings within the MCA against him for dragging the party into the PKFZ saga.
Yesterday, six party divisions in Perak openly called for Ong to be suspended over the allegations that Tiong had donated the RM10 million.
The MCA has already clarified that it did not receive the donation while Tiong has called for Ong to open up his bank accounts for scrutiny.
More divisions, especially those from Dr Chua’s home state in Johor, are expected to join their Perak counterparts in calling for Ong’s removal.
C Guevara
No comments:
Post a Comment