"Politicians are a lot like diapers - they should be changed frequently and for the same reason." - Robin Williams in the movie 'Man of the Year'.

NONE After many-a -tussle over the past few weeks, the warring Ong Tee Keat (left) and Chua Soi Lek factions within the MCA have finally agreed on just one, not two, extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to resolve the leadership crisis.

Those who naively think the upcoming EGM would settle once and for all the acrimonious rivalry between the two intransigents are at risk of greater disappointment.

There is now too much bad blood in the party, as has always been the case in previous power struggles, and the wounds can only be covered up - not healed - when the ultimate arbiter, ie. Umno, steps in.

The most likely outcome? Both Ong and Chua would be forced to step down to make way for a new leadership that would be acceptable to Umno.

To pre-empt Chua, Ong ordered a separate EGM to be held to decide on the sacking of his deputy.

He even at one stage toyed with putting the Port Klang Free Zone investigation on the agenda to gain moral high ground.

It was severely criticised in many quarters - even some from within his own camp - that Ong was seeking to conflate the national issue with a purely party affair, thereby "hijacking" the EGM to the detriment of his rivals.

But the announcement by Najib Abdul Razak last week to set up a special task force to look into the PKFZ scandal clearly indicates the prime minister has somewhat lost faith in Ong' ability to resolve the internal struggle amicably.

President's motion set aside

Najib is also most probably worried that permitting Ong, too much of a lone ranger, to go for the jugular over PKFZ would eventually open a can of worms.

The development yesterday shows that Ong's position is becoming more untenable by the day.

NONE The MCA president's motion of having the sacking of Chua (right) sanctioned by the party was set aside, while the five motions proposed by his rivals were all accepted on the agenda, including a vote of no confidence on Ong and another which seeks to reinstate Chua as the rightful deputy president.

Chua's rising political fortunes were abruptly halted following the exposure of his sexual escapades nearly two years ago, but he made a remarkable comeback when the party backed him as deputy last October.

Chua's astounding victory has since been a thorn in Ong's side, and the duo have never seen eye to eye.

Since the crisis burst into full view, Ong had persistently portrayed himself as a moral vanguard out to protect the image and integrity of the party, hence the expulsion of Chua.

But is it ethically justifiable to have a party member - and a very prominent one at that -punished twice?

Chua resigned all his party posts immediately after the sex scandal came to light, albeit reluctantly.

One can argue until the cows come home over the moral aspects of Chua's private conducts, but the man did pay with a heavy price.

When he attempted a political rehabilitation in the party election, no one in the leadership stopped him, and he won rather handsomely.

If Chua's "tainted" image had always been a grave concern to Ong, why did the newly elected president at the time tell the press the two could work together, instead of making it clear that he could ill tolerate someone constantly craving for sex sitting next to him?

Rubbing salt into the proverbial wound?

Ong is convinced of his own moral judgement, but what he did not consider in depth was grassroots sentiments.

The more Ong reiterates the sacking as necessary to safeguard the party's "clean" image, the more he rubs salt into the wound.

Lest we forget, Chua secured 1,115 votes to become the deputy president.

If the party's integrity was uppermost in his mind, Ong might as well expulse all those who had voted for Chua last year.

mca ong chua negotiation egm resolution 1 This is not to say Ong has no right to launch a moral crusade to cleanse the MCA of its dubious elements.

On the contrary, had this campaign been premised on a substantive and genuine reform agenda, I would have been happy to see it succeed.

And what would be the issues that are vitally important to Malaysian democracy, which Ong could have absorbed as his clarion call for reform?

Press freedom, respect for the public institutions, transparency, independence of the judiciary, electoral reform, abolition of the draconian Internal Security Act and other arbitrary legislations, to name a few.

Sadly, none of this appears more pressing than Chua's sexual adventures to Ong, although he could very well rise to national leadership had he adopted an agenda as such, not too dissimilar from what Zaid Ibrahim has done.

The MCA president does have a track record of being a maverick, but he is by no means a true democrat.

At a forum in early 2001, when Reformasi was at its height, Ong publicly dismissed street demonstrators as nothing more than a bunch of "petit bourgeois".

Roles reversed today

Calling them Xiao Bu Er Qiao Ya in Mandarin, he ridiculed them for running for cover when the police fired tear gas and water cannons on them.

Ong clearly saw no wrong when the authorities reacted with excessive violence and, worse, he expected the peaceful protestors to stand still and suffer for their cause!

When head of the MCA Youth, Ong defied Ling Liong Sik and came out against the party's takeover of the Nanyang Press Holdings.

It won him rounds of applause.

However, had he been a genuine reformist - as he very much hopes the Chinese community will remember him for - he would have relinquished the MCA's control of the Star and a host of other publications now that he is the most powerful man in the party.

How ironic, that he only finds the best-selling English daily in the country very useful in serving his own agenda!

I am utterly disgusted at the way Ong had handled the conflict, but it does not mean that I have thrown my support behind Chua.

Far from it. What has transpired so far is nothing more than a bitter rivalry and poisonous feud between two leaders who are equally devoid of political ideals, and Chua's constant pandering to Najib and other bigwigs in Umno, a party rotten to the core, only calls into question his own reform credentials - if any.

Quite clearly, the 2,402 MCA central delegates are merely given a choice between a rotten apple and a sour grape, but this is the sorry state that the party is in, with the Chinese community increasingly bored and indifferent.