MALAYSIAN CHINESE ASSOCATION PARTY IN CHAOS
Malaysian Chinese Association(MCA) delegates passed a no confidence vote against party president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat by a wafer-thin 14 vote majority, and also overturned the suspension of Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek.
Source: The Malaysian Insider
- But it appears the party has been thrown into chaos because delegates also defeated a motion to specifically reinstate Dr Chua as deputy president.
- Party secretary-general Wong Foon Meng told reporters that this meant Dr Chua would be reinstated as an ordinary member but not as deputy president.
- Dr Chua said in a short statement on his blog that he accepted the decision of party delegates.
- Ong was evasive when asked if he would resign after losing the confidence vote.
- "You cannot simply don't follow what I say," he answered in cryptic fashion to a question of whether he was resigning.
- Both Ong and Wong said the party central committee would meet soon to discuss the implication's of today's EGM vote. Wong later announced that the central committe meeting will be held on Thursday Oct 15.
- "Any development and action to be taken will be discussed collectively by the central committee. There is nothing much we can elaborate on at this juncture," said Ong.
- Ong had lost the vote of no-confidence motion by 1151 against 1141 votes.
- The delegates also voted by 1204 against 1095 votes to approve the motion to annul the Presidential Council's decision to sack Dr Chua and the subsequent central committee decision to suspend Dr Chua instead.
- But delegates surprisingly voted by 1184 against 1110 votes against reinstating Dr Chua as deputy president.
- While it may appear to be Barisan Nasional’s (BN) biggest nightmare come true with the second biggest party in the ruling coalition split like never before, it could also provide an opening for the party to move forward.
MALAYSIAN CHINESE ASSOCATION PARTY'S PRESIDENT CALLS FOR EGM
KUALA LUMPUR: MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat has instructed party secretary-general Datuk Wong Foon Meng to convene an emergency general meeting (EGM) within 30 days.
Source: The Star
- Wong, when contacted, confirmed he received Ong's instructions Monday morning.
- "Based on Article 30.1 of the party constitution, the president can call for an EGM," said Wong.
- He said he would start making preparations on Tuesday to inform delegates of the date, time and venue of the EGM.
- The issues to be debated at the EGM are the ongoing public disclosure of the Port Klang Free Zone project, the presidential council's decision to expel deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek and other matters.
- The EGM will seek a decision from delegates on these issues.
- Ong's directive prempts moves by Dr Chua's supporters to gather enough signatures from delegates to convene an EGM seeking to nullify Dr Chua's expulsion and reinstate him as deputy president, and pass a no-confidence vote against Ong.
MALAYSIAN EX-MINISTER SACKED FROM PARTY OVER SEX TAPE
KUALA LUMPUR: The ethnic Chinese party in Malaysia's ruling coalition has sacked a top leader embroiled in a sex scandal, setting the stage for infighting that could harm its public support.
Source: AFP.
- The Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) decided overnight to expel Dr.Chua Soi Lek, who was forced to quit as health minister last year after being caught on tape having sex with an unidentified woman in a hotel room.
- Chua, 62, was the deputy president of the MCA, a key member of Prime Minister Najib Razak's Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition government, representing the community that makes up 26 per cent of the Muslim-majority population.
- "We did so with a heavy heart after giving much consideration to the damage inflicted upon the party image brought about by his sex scandal featured in the DVD," MCA president Ong Tee Keat told reporters, referring to the sacking.
- The move came as the Barisan Nasional attempts to regain support from minority Chinese and Indians, many of whom deserted the coalition in elections last year.
- In the wake of the sex scandal, Chua resigned as the party's number three but was voted back in by party members to the number-two post in elections last year.
- That set off a running battle with Ong, whom Chua said felt threatened by his support, and in recent months the sex scandal was revived with new questions over the legality of the acts depicted in the tape.
- Chua, married with three children, has previously accused his political "enemies" of orchestrating the release of the video, which was widely circulated.
- Political analyst James Chin said the sacking of Chua was a "wrong move" that would throw Barisan into further disarray. It is already plagued by infighting within another component party that represents Indians.
- "The Chinese community will see that a deeply divided MCA can't play the role of being their representatives in the government," Chin, a political analyst at the Monash University campus in Kuala Lumpur, told
VISITORS GEOFLAGS SINCE AUGUST 26, 2009
