Tee Keat: Lawsuit will not silent me

MCA president Ong Tee Keat said today the Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd's (KDSB) suit against him will not stop him from continuing to speak out on the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) issue.

He argued that while Kuala Dimensi chief executive officer Tiong King Sing had the right to sue him, the Bintulu parliamentarian could get away with defaming him.

"It is his right to file the suit... he said not to treat corporate figures like himself as an ATM (automated teller machine).

"Likewise, certain people should not think of the government as an ATM," he told reporters after attending an event at the Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman in Kampar, Perak.

The suit, filed yesterday at the Kuala Lumpur High Court, claimed that Ong, the Port Klang Authority and its chairman, Lee Hwa Beng, had overstepped heir authority by publishing the PriceWaterhouseCoopers report on PKFZ.

Ong, who is also transport minister, again repeated his stand that despite all Tiong's wild claims against him, the probe into the PKFZ scandal would continue.

He also reiterated that he would file a suit against Tiong on Monday.

"That is my commitment. I mean no nonsense," he said when asked to comment on a media report today quoting him as saying that he would proceed with the suit against Tiong who claimed that he had given RM10 million in political donation to MCA through Ong last year.

Tiong, who is Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club chairman,
claimed that the money was paid in three instalments.

Hit by disparaging rumours

The MCA boss also dismissed news reports that his deputy Chua Soi Lek (right) would initiate an anti-Ong EGM in two weeks' time once the Permatang Pasir by-election is over.

He vowed he was ready to put his political career on the line.

Ong lamented that he had been hit with disparaging rumours since being elected MCA president.

"Anti-Ong rumours have came out many times in my political career, but for a man who puts his political career on the line, they're not important."

Chua, meanwhile, told Malaysiakini that he had no hand in the anti-Ong EGM rumours.

Denying that he is the one who engineered the EGM, Chua challenged those spreading the rumours to prove them by showing him the signed forms calling for the EGM.

"Ask those spreading the EGM rumours to show the forms, because you need forms to collect signatures in order to call for an EGM.

"I did not sign any form, so how am I supposed to initiate the EGM?"

Currently campaigning in Permatang Pasir, Chua said the rumours were all created by MCA members, and this is bad for the party.

Chua said he had already been made numb by these rumours aimed at discrediting him.

THE TIONG INTERVIEW

Part 1
RM1 rental: Tiong feels 'conned' by MCA

Part 2
I'm not BN's ATM, says deep pocket MP
Q&A: PKFZ sizzled like 'koay teow'