MCA heading towards a meltdown under Ong
TB SimPublished: Aug 19, 2009 7:58 PM | Updated: Aug 19, 2009 8:04 PM
MCA president and Transport Minister Ong Tee Keat is behaving true to character as he shoots from the hip at "enemies" he claims are besieging him.
Pugnacious, stiff-necked and arrogantly self-righteous, he has nose-dived into controversy after controversy in less than a year since taking the helm of the party.
MCA president and Transport Minister Ong Tee Keat is behaving true to character as he shoots from the hip at "enemies" he claims are besieging him.
Pugnacious, stiff-necked and arrogantly self-righteous, he has nose-dived into controversy after controversy in less than a year since taking the helm of the party.
Clearly, he is fighting for his political survival and his fate has serious implications not only for the future and fortune of his 60-year-old party, but also for the Malaysian Chinese community as a whole.
Ong portrays himself as the victim but there is scant public sympathy because he embellishes his counterattacks with hyperbole that comes across more as bluster than blast.
He has also lost considerable goodwill in the community and in the mass media that once celebrated him as a courageous maverick. The strain is getting to him.
A news report published in the party-owned daily the Star ('MCA must survive at all costs, vows Ong', Aug 14), saw him making some stunning revelations. It is indicative of the siege that he feels tightening around him.
Last month, he instructed the other three MCA ministers and the seven deputy ministers to issue a joint statement to support him. Last weekend, he summoned grassroots leaders to a rally to pledge support for him in overcoming the challenges he is facing.
On Tuesday, the MCA central committee passed two resolutions supporting him in connection with his handling of the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal.
That is all expected of party members but meaningless as they would not follow him if he were to hurl himself down the cliff.
The general feeling among a significant section of party members and observers about him and the controversies he has generated is a mix of bafflement and cynicism.
They believe he is acting irrationally because of a bruised ego. Instead of nursing it back, he is lashing out at his imagined "enemies" and creating new ones.
It doesn't need the brain of a rocket scientist to realise who he is referring to as "enemies".
Ong has railed often against outsiders meddling in his party's affairs while the Star has carried articles with messages that could not possibly be mistaken by those targeted.
Ong's relationships with important politicians inside and outside MCA already look irreparable.
His unforgiving treatment of his deputy president Chua Soi Lek bewildered many party members, his harping on corruption in high places and non-savvy handling of the PKFZ issue offended influential allies in other BN parties especially Umno, and his tit-for-tat with the PKFZ contractor damaged his own credibility as well as that of the government.
It is known that Prime Minister Najib was initially hesitant about making public the findings of the PricewaterhouseCoopers audit report on the PKFZ project.
But Ong and his close advisors gave assurances that they could manage the fallout successfully. As events have proven, they failed to anticipate all the ramifications and have now embarrassed the BN and government leadership.
He should be reminded that the PKFZ scandal is not a Chinese community issue. He must move quickly to reposition PKFZ as a national concern of the government and work amicably with his government colleagues and political allies to resolve it.
He doesn't seem to know any way to fight battles other than to charge in like the disastrous Light Brigade of the British cavalry in the Crimean War. It almost seems like he wants to fall on his sword, to go out in a blaze of glory.
If, in his imagination, he believes he is fighting heroically the cause of the people and to uphold integrity, and wishes to surrender himself to a political martyr's death, it is his choice.
However, he must not take the MCA or the Chinese community with him on this road to self-destruction. If he feels so strongly about his personal mission, he should instead step down as MCA president and Transport Minister and then say whatever he wants and to whoever he brands as the "enemy".
The game Ong is playing is pregnant with risks. He must know it. By virtue of his MCA position, he is seen as the nominal head of the Chinese community in the government even though his party has been rejected at the ballot box by the majority of Chinese voters.
The MCA performed very badly in the general election winning only 15 parliamentary seats but was still rewarded by the BN leadership with four ministers and seven deputy ministers' posts.
Proportionate to the number of its MPs, the MCA is the biggest beneficiary in the new BN administration in terms of government posts.
That fact would not have gone unnoticed by the other BN component parties, including Umno, who are watching closely what and how much the MCA could deliver to strengthen the coalition.
So far, the MCA has been unable to regain Chinese electoral support for BN as shown in the string of by-election defeats suffered by BN in the peninsula. Now, the shocks from the leadership brawl in the MCA and the PKFZ runaway scandal are spreading out to rock BN and the government.
None of the other BN parties and government leaders would be happy being caught in the reverberations, especially at a time when they are scrambling to defend themselves against a resurgent opposition.
The Chinese community, MCA and Ong would be blamed if the erosion of electoral support for the BN continues. Already the Chinese community's support for the BN is at a record low and the perception is that the community is anti-BN.
If Ong is bent on a collision course with his "enemies", he should not use the party or the Chinese community as his shield. That puts the party and the community in the line of fire.
Because the Chinese community is large, and they hold a dominant position in important sectors of the economy, what Ong is doing could affect the stability of the whole country.
Efforts should be stepped up to win back the Chinese voters to BN instead of wasting energy on infighting. What exactly is Ong aiming to achieve by fighting people who are on the same political side as him, especially with the next general election drawing close?
Where is he leading the Chinese community? The Chinese community has always been prepared to compromise. It works hard to compromise. It is not a hostile community.
The PKFZ revelations are unwinding at a dizzying speed and the question on the minds of many BN people is what Ong's end game is. Is his way the best way to sort out the mess in a project that has gone wrong or is there an ulterior motive? Or has he merely been receiving poor advice from political greenhorns?
MCA has lost a lot of public support as could be seen from the election results and subsequent opinion surveys. This is a time when the party needs extraordinarily strong and astute leadership that can galvanise support and that can cooperate well with other BN components, particularly Umno.
The two main players in MCA should put aside their personal feelings to focus on providing the needed leadership for the party and work together to win back public confidence for the party and the BN.
If Tee Keat has personal differences with Chua, he should call his deputy to talk to him and settle the issues. You are the president of MCA now, not Lone Ranger riding a white horse shooting down bad men.
It is unbecoming for the leader of the second biggest BN party to engage in a very public and very ugly verbal slugfest with his deputy.
Ong is a seasoned survivor as could be seen from his record as a maverick in MCA and his surprising re-election in last year's general election amid an urban voter revolt against the BN.
Now he is faced with the most serious political crisis in his career, largely caused by his own missteps.
But by embroiling the party and its members in his belligerent fight for survival, Ong has chosen a path that can only end in the break up of MCA and long-term negative consequences for the Malaysian Chinese community.
Not unexpectedly, the average Malaysian Chinese appears indifferent to the fate of Tee Ong or MCA.
That could be because they don't understand the effects on the community should MCA disintegrate and Chinese representation in the BN is fragmented. If they do, they will see the risks in a different light.
Pugnacious, stiff-necked and arrogantly self-righteous, he has nose-dived into controversy after controversy in less than a year since taking the helm of the party.
Clearly, he is fighting for his political survival and his fate has serious implications not only for the future and fortune of his 60-year-old party, but also for the Malaysian Chinese community as a whole.
Ong portrays himself as the victim but there is scant public sympathy because he embellishes his counterattacks with hyperbole that comes across more as bluster than blast.
He has also lost considerable goodwill in the community and in the mass media that once celebrated him as a courageous maverick. The strain is getting to him.
A news report published in the party-owned daily the Star ('MCA must survive at all costs, vows Ong', Aug 14), saw him making some stunning revelations. It is indicative of the siege that he feels tightening around him.
Last month, he instructed the other three MCA ministers and the seven deputy ministers to issue a joint statement to support him. Last weekend, he summoned grassroots leaders to a rally to pledge support for him in overcoming the challenges he is facing.
On Tuesday, the MCA central committee passed two resolutions supporting him in connection with his handling of the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal.
That is all expected of party members but meaningless as they would not follow him if he were to hurl himself down the cliff.
The general feeling among a significant section of party members and observers about him and the controversies he has generated is a mix of bafflement and cynicism.
They believe he is acting irrationally because of a bruised ego. Instead of nursing it back, he is lashing out at his imagined "enemies" and creating new ones.
It doesn't need the brain of a rocket scientist to realise who he is referring to as "enemies".
Ong has railed often against outsiders meddling in his party's affairs while the Star has carried articles with messages that could not possibly be mistaken by those targeted.
Ong's relationships with important politicians inside and outside MCA already look irreparable.
His unforgiving treatment of his deputy president Chua Soi Lek bewildered many party members, his harping on corruption in high places and non-savvy handling of the PKFZ issue offended influential allies in other BN parties especially Umno, and his tit-for-tat with the PKFZ contractor damaged his own credibility as well as that of the government.
It is known that Prime Minister Najib was initially hesitant about making public the findings of the PricewaterhouseCoopers audit report on the PKFZ project.
But Ong and his close advisors gave assurances that they could manage the fallout successfully. As events have proven, they failed to anticipate all the ramifications and have now embarrassed the BN and government leadership.
He should be reminded that the PKFZ scandal is not a Chinese community issue. He must move quickly to reposition PKFZ as a national concern of the government and work amicably with his government colleagues and political allies to resolve it.
He doesn't seem to know any way to fight battles other than to charge in like the disastrous Light Brigade of the British cavalry in the Crimean War. It almost seems like he wants to fall on his sword, to go out in a blaze of glory.
If, in his imagination, he believes he is fighting heroically the cause of the people and to uphold integrity, and wishes to surrender himself to a political martyr's death, it is his choice.
However, he must not take the MCA or the Chinese community with him on this road to self-destruction. If he feels so strongly about his personal mission, he should instead step down as MCA president and Transport Minister and then say whatever he wants and to whoever he brands as the "enemy".
The game Ong is playing is pregnant with risks. He must know it. By virtue of his MCA position, he is seen as the nominal head of the Chinese community in the government even though his party has been rejected at the ballot box by the majority of Chinese voters.
The MCA performed very badly in the general election winning only 15 parliamentary seats but was still rewarded by the BN leadership with four ministers and seven deputy ministers' posts.
Proportionate to the number of its MPs, the MCA is the biggest beneficiary in the new BN administration in terms of government posts.
That fact would not have gone unnoticed by the other BN component parties, including Umno, who are watching closely what and how much the MCA could deliver to strengthen the coalition.
So far, the MCA has been unable to regain Chinese electoral support for BN as shown in the string of by-election defeats suffered by BN in the peninsula. Now, the shocks from the leadership brawl in the MCA and the PKFZ runaway scandal are spreading out to rock BN and the government.
None of the other BN parties and government leaders would be happy being caught in the reverberations, especially at a time when they are scrambling to defend themselves against a resurgent opposition.
The Chinese community, MCA and Ong would be blamed if the erosion of electoral support for the BN continues. Already the Chinese community's support for the BN is at a record low and the perception is that the community is anti-BN.
If Ong is bent on a collision course with his "enemies", he should not use the party or the Chinese community as his shield. That puts the party and the community in the line of fire.
Because the Chinese community is large, and they hold a dominant position in important sectors of the economy, what Ong is doing could affect the stability of the whole country.
Efforts should be stepped up to win back the Chinese voters to BN instead of wasting energy on infighting. What exactly is Ong aiming to achieve by fighting people who are on the same political side as him, especially with the next general election drawing close?
Where is he leading the Chinese community? The Chinese community has always been prepared to compromise. It works hard to compromise. It is not a hostile community.
The PKFZ revelations are unwinding at a dizzying speed and the question on the minds of many BN people is what Ong's end game is. Is his way the best way to sort out the mess in a project that has gone wrong or is there an ulterior motive? Or has he merely been receiving poor advice from political greenhorns?
MCA has lost a lot of public support as could be seen from the election results and subsequent opinion surveys. This is a time when the party needs extraordinarily strong and astute leadership that can galvanise support and that can cooperate well with other BN components, particularly Umno.
The two main players in MCA should put aside their personal feelings to focus on providing the needed leadership for the party and work together to win back public confidence for the party and the BN.
If Tee Keat has personal differences with Chua, he should call his deputy to talk to him and settle the issues. You are the president of MCA now, not Lone Ranger riding a white horse shooting down bad men.
It is unbecoming for the leader of the second biggest BN party to engage in a very public and very ugly verbal slugfest with his deputy.
Ong is a seasoned survivor as could be seen from his record as a maverick in MCA and his surprising re-election in last year's general election amid an urban voter revolt against the BN.
Now he is faced with the most serious political crisis in his career, largely caused by his own missteps.
But by embroiling the party and its members in his belligerent fight for survival, Ong has chosen a path that can only end in the break up of MCA and long-term negative consequences for the Malaysian Chinese community.
Not unexpectedly, the average Malaysian Chinese appears indifferent to the fate of Tee Ong or MCA.
That could be because they don't understand the effects on the community should MCA disintegrate and Chinese representation in the BN is fragmented. If they do, they will see the risks in a different light.
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