The Malaysian Insider

By Clara Chooi

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 17 — The din of dissent during Thursday afternoon’s MCA central committee meeting was only broken by the deafening silence of party president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat.

Repeatedly, he was asked by central committee members why he was refusing to resign even after losing a confidence vote at last weekend’s party extraordinary general meeting (EGM).

And repeatedly Ong kept silent.

“He could not even explain why. He was asked many, many times why he wanted so badly to cling on to his post when he himself had said earlier he would resign.

“He was silent and could not explain,” a member of the party’s central committee told The Malaysian Insider yesterday.

Instead Ong told the central committee he was invoking his powers as party president to call for a new EGM.

In a prepared blog posting that was put up immediately after the heated meeting, Ong said that since the decision to sack Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek was made collectively by the central committee and the presidential council, the onus and responsibility should be shared.

But the central committee member who spoke to The Malaysian Insider claimed that the presidential council, of which he was also a member, had been railroaded into sacking Dr Chua.

He said many of the presidential council members had been uneasy with the decision to sack Dr Chua for bringing the party into disrepute because of his sex scandal in 2007. But they agreed out of respect for the president’s wishes.

“Of course not. There was disagreement. But he went ahead with it. Now, he wants to bring everyone down with him. Why should we pay for his mistakes?

“He is a very selfish and irresponsible president who is not willing to face the consequences of his own actions,” said the source.

The decision to sack Dr Chua had led to last weekend’s party EGM. Ong lost a confidence vote and Dr Chua was reinstated as a party member even though he lost a vote to specifically reinstall him as the party No 2.

The Malaysian Insider understands that on Thursday the central committee had attempted to force Ong to resign.

More than 20 of the 42 members had signed a petition calling on him to quit, but the combative Ong refused.

Under MCA’s constitution, a party president can only be removed by a vote from at least two-thirds of national delegates at an EGM. Ong lost last weekend’s vote by only 14 votes.

Yesterday, MCA secretary-general Datuk Wong Foon Meng, a close ally of Ong, said EGM II will have only one resolution, which is to support the president and remove the entire central committee. The legal implications of such a resolution are still being debated.

Wong said the party’s legal affairs bureau was still studying the draft. Some central committee members have argued that the bid by Ong to force fresh elections could be an exercise of futility. This is because the party’s constitution states that the only way to call for fresh polls is when the CC is dissolved, through the resignation of two thirds of its members.

The likelihood of such a thing happening, however, is close to nil.

It is unclear if an EGM can force just the central committee to resign without also removing the party president who is also a member. It is clear, however, that neither Ong nor the central committee members are willing to resign.

Whatever happens, MCA may still be in deadlock.

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