MCA vice-president Chua Jui Meng today defended himself from the bitter attacks of his party chief, saying that he was not the "oppressor but the victim".

Yesterday, MCA president Ling Liong Sik - who had initially refused to give any reasons for the sacking of Chua as the party's Kedah chief - had accused him of trying to "politically assassinate" him.

He accused Chua of spreading lies about him, and smearing him and his family. "He was inviting this upon himself," The Sun quoted him as saying.

However, at a press conference this morning, Chua asserted that he was not disputing Ling's decision to remove him as Kedah MCA liaison committee chief but rather the timing of the removal.

Chua said he had earlier asked Ling after the 1999 party elections to appoint a Kedahan to take over his state post.

According to Bernama, Chua added that he did not regard his removal as a loss to him as he had expressed his intention to pass over the post to a Kedah party leader.

"I have kept it all to myself because I know that in the end, party members and the public will judge me not by what I say but what I do," he said.

Ling announced on Tuesday that Chua was replaced by Kedah MCA secretary Beh Heong Seng as the state chairman, a post which Chua had held for the last seven years.

Chua, who is health minister, considered himself a target by certain people out to put pressure on him.

In May, when MCA announced its plan to purchase Nanyang Press Holdings, Chua and seven other central committee members protested against the takeover and rallied support nationwide, leading to an extraordinary general meeting on June 24 to resolve the matter.

The EGM saw a tissue-thin majority voting for the RM230 million deal.

Ideal timing

Former political columnist of China Press, Eow Bung Poo, told malaysiakini that the party's tight control over the Chinese media would enable the party leadership to play down the grassroots' objection to Chua's sacking.

"The timing was ideal to drop Chua," he said.

"The landslide victory of Barisan Nasional in Sarawak state elections, and the sidelining of DAP and Keadilan, gave Ling the golden opportunity to 'kill' off his dissidents," he said.

Eow added that Ling would not take action against all his opponents for now, but rather offer some carrots to a few of them as a way to split the rival faction.

He said Ling is seeking to turn the sacking into a personal issue in order to isolate Chua.

Ling had earlier claimed that Chua's removal had no connection with the controversial takeover of Nanyang Press.

However, Eow believed that the sacking was the result of to the sizable vote against the takeover at the party's EGM where about 47 percent had supported Chua and the dissident faction.

Eow stressed that the rift between the two teams has widened further, making it impossible for the opponent team not to challenge Ling in next year's party elections.

Task completed

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was reported by Bernama to have said that Chua's removal was because his services were no longer needed in Kedah.

"Chua was made the Kedah MCA chairman at a time when there was trouble and misunderstanding in the state. The problems have since been resolved," he said.

"Now Kedah MCA accepts Beh (Heng Seong). Hence the time has come for Chua to cease being the stop-gap leader."

Asked about the possibility of a reshuffle in the cabinet following this recent developments in the Barisan Nasional component party, Mahathir laughed and said,"You know, I seldom reshuffle the cabinet."

Mahathir added that he himself was replaced as Kelantan Umno chief once.

"Now there is someone else as head of the liaison committee. Hence this does not mean that I have to resign as prime minister. He (Chua) was a temporary, stop-gap (leader) because of the problems there."

Chua has been the health minister since 1995.