How MCA came to own The Star

Editor’s note: This is the fifth part of a series of excerpts from former health minister and MCA president Chua Soi Lek’s book, ‘Like Me or Hate Me: Rising from the Political Ashes’.

BOOK EXCERPT | When Ong Ka Ting was the party president, the MCA annual budget was presented, discussed and approved by the central committee in the first quarter of the year. But no one really knew just how much the MCA really had in terms of assets. As a political party, it did not have to be transparent in its financial reporting.

Even so, the MCA was regarded as being both asset and cash-rich. Speculation about the value of the party’s assets therefore varied, with most observers believing it was somewhere between RM1 billion and RM2 billion.

Most of the MCA’s income was derived from dividends earned by the shares it held in Star Media Group Bhd. Of the RM25 million spent annually, RM5 million was allocated to the president. This was a tradition begun by Ka Ting when he was president.

This money enabled the president to allocate funds to schools, NGOs and temples as he visited the various constituencies in the country.

Ka Ting (photo) began the practice because he did not have any ministerial post, and therefore did not have direct access to the resources of the government.

However, when Ong Tee Keat was the president, he continued the arrangement despite the fact that he was a minister.

Since I was not a minister when I served as president, I must admit that this RM5 million came in handy. It sounds like a large amount. However, since I travelled throughout the country frequently and attended many functions, I had to use the amount prudently. If not, I would run short of funds in the third or fourth quarter of the year.

However, I also felt that the management of MCA assets needed to be handled in a more professional and transparent manner. Despite attending many MCA central committee meetings between 1990 until 2010 when I became the president, I could not recall any detailed discussions of party assets and their management. Only the treasurer and the party president seemed to be acquainted with the true situation.

But the party assets belonged to MCA members. Hence, they were entitled to know how these assets were managed and utilised.

When I was appointed chairperson of party affairs under the Great Unity and Peace Plan during Ong Tee Keat’s presidency, I made the unprecedented decision that all MCA divisions, Youth and Wanita wings should receive funds from the MCA headquarters. But this was an ad hoc decision, not something based upon a systematic analysis of the party’s financial position.

As MCA president, I believed the time had come for the party to handle its assets in a more professional and transparent manner. In reality, the president and members of the central committee were only the temporary custodians...