Dubbed the 'lone ranger', Ong Tee Keat said he is cautiously optimistic about his chances to be a party vice-president although he conceded that it will be an uphill task.

"I'm not on the 'menu' (preferred candidates list) being passed around the central delegates so the battle should be an uphill one for me," he told malaysiakini in an interview recently.

The outgoing MCA Youth chief also talked about his vision for the party, his concern about malicious SMS messages and how it will affect delegates.


Malaysiakini: Recently, you lodged a police report over the malicious SMS messages telling candidates why they must choose certain candidates only.

Ong: I lodged the police report not for my own sake but for the party. I have been receiving numerous SMS forwarded to me by the delegates. At first I took it lightly but after I received a few unidentified malicious messages, I realised it is serious because the delegates who received them felt threatened. They could also be cowed by such messages and I don't wish for such things to create chaos in the party election.

How would party members react to such a culture?

I don't think it is a fair to say it is a party culture. After all, the so-called self-proclaimed senders - of course, they put a name - are people who possibly have no connection with the party election.

Is the spreading of malicious SMS messages organised, or does it originate from different individuals?

I cannot make any speculation at this point after having lodged the police report. As a fact, the messages come in three versions, with more or less the same content and have been sent quite extensively to a lot of people and delegates.

Why didn't you file a complaint with the party's election steering committee or the disciplinary board?

From what I observed, I would not say this is something done by insiders, how could we draw such a conclusion that this is an insider job? It is more right for me to lodge a report with the police because this concerns public security. Of course, you could say this only affects the MCA delegates, but if we were to leave it unchecked, it will be a threat.

How is it going to affect the party election?

I cannot make any pre-emptive speculations. After having gauged the responses from some of those who received the message, I tend to believe that some delegates might be cowed into voting or not come out to vote. This is possible.

But the votes are confidential.

Of course every vote is confidential, even if I was to tell you to vote for someone, you don't need to follow what I said because I don't have any means to check on you. But if the delegate is threatened, the mentality is that 'I rather not come out to vote'. This would definitely affect the party election. I would not want to say this is not going to happen, so I think it is only right for me to lodge a report.

You give people the impression of being a lone ranger in the party.

Whether lone ranger or not, so far the so-called lone ranger has been surviving since 1990, don't you think that 15 years for a lone ranger is something beyond our imagination? If at all what people say is true, then this lone ranger somehow might have a lot of silent support.

There are nine contestants - with three incumbents - for the four vice-president posts. In such a situation how would you rate your chances?

This is an uphill battle. Out of all the 'cai tan' or menus (preferred candidates list) being distributed, apparently I am in none of them (grins). I think I still need to work hard and fight for every vote possible and I have been doing that for the past one month and I must say that I am still being strong. I am still cautiously optimistic, because we would not know what is exactly going to happen.

Why should the delegates vote for you?

From the onset I made it very clear in my manifesto, I believe in the politics of visions - ideals, visions and methodologies and this is not just rhetoric. In my past 15 years as an elected member to the Youth wing, I was the secretary-general for nine years and later on six years as Youth chief.

At the time, I was wearing two hats, I was the elected Youth central committee member from 1990 to 1999, so all these years I must say that my focus has been quite concentrated on the competitiveness of Malaysians, in particular the Chinese community and youths, through higher education, vocational training and entrepreneurship. So far the various programmes conducted under my leadership are testimony to what I believe in and have been fighting for, it is not suddenly because of the party election that I came out with all the rhetoric.

The politics of visions is rather similar to what (presidential candidate) Chua Jui Meng is promoting.

He has his visions and I have mine. When I talk about visions, I have been talking about it since the first day I joined politics in the early 1980s and even in my political writings and social commentaries, I had been reiterating the same agendas and visions because I don't believe in the ad-hoc thing or politics of expediency.

Does this mean the current party leadership lacks visions?

I don't think it is right for me to draw such a conclusion because when I said I believe in this, it does not mean others don't have it. They might have it, in their own form or agenda which is different from mine.

How do you rate the chances of MCA presidential hopeful Chua Jui Meng?

I am not in the position to comment about others and honestly I don't know much about his campaign.

What is your plan if you lose?

As I said earlier - being prepared for the worst. If I were to lose, I know that I will be out from mainstream politics, the party as well as the government. But at the end of the day, I will remain as a member of parliament (for Pandan).

So you are prepared for the worst?

Yes, because after all everyone needs to have a livelihood. I have to prepare for mine - if that is to be the case.