MCA vice-president Ong Tee Keat is not the only leader from the party who has revealed his parliamentary allocation on the Internet.

And he is not the first MCA representative to do so. Apparently, Subang Jaya state assemblyperson Lee Hwa Beng has been making the information public for years through his personal website (below).

According to the website, Lee has made a total of 118 allocations last year of between RM500 and RM2,500 to schools, religious bodies, residents associations, among others.

The total sum is close to RM250,000, which is the amount allocated to every BN state assemblyperson in Selangor. Allocations for assemblypersons vary from state to state.

Meanwhile, all BN members of parliament receive an annual allocation of RM2 million for their respective constituencies. However, constitutencies held by the opposition do not get such yearly allocation.

It is learnt that Lee has been disclosing the information for up to four years, but only the 2006 figures are currently available following a revamp of his website last year.

Meanwhile, Ong's decision to reveal the information pertaining to his RM2 million allocation for his Pandan parliamentary constituency in Selangor has stirred a heated debate in the Chinese-language media.

The MCA vice-president has come under heavy fire after he disclosed details on how he spent his allocation on his website on Dec 5. His action has put strong pressure on his party colleagues to follow suit.

While Ong's move drew support from the opposition, several BN MPs - Ng Lip Yong (Gerakan-Batu), Tan Lian Hoe (Gerakan-Bukit Gantang), Wong Nai Chee (MCA-Kota Melaka) and Wee Ka Siong (MCA-Ayer Itam) - contacted by malaysiakini were not prepared to follow his example.

Respect transparency

On Jan 23, a MCA central committee meeting discussed the matter and decided that its elected representatives - for both state and parliament - should not reveal their constituency allocations on the Internet.

It is learnt that only one CC member, Selangor exco Ch'ng Toh Eng, had backed Ong during the debate.

"No matter how the allocation is revealed, the spirit of transparency should be respected," said Ch'ng when contacted recently.

"Whether everyone should use the same channel to declare their allocation is another issue," he added.

According to sources, one deputy minister had criticised Ong over his action during the meeting because it had led to other leaders being questioned by the media as well as their consituents.

Some CC members thought that Ong's action did not reflect the party's collective team spirit.

Contradictory stand

On the other hand, certain quarters viewed the CC's decision as a contradiction to the party's 9-Point Party Platform (9PPP), which sets clean governance as a priority.

MCA president Ong Ka Ting and his brother Ka Chuan, who is the secretary-general, have both defended the CC's decision.

They said the party was concerned that such revelations could be "sensitive", especially in allocations for religious and education purposes.

Apart from this, Ka Chuan said the allocations required prior approval from the Implementation and Coordination Unit, which comes under the Prime Minister's Department.

"The relevant documents are considered official secret before approval unless permission is granted by the authorities," he was quoted as saying by Sin Chew Daily.

"If they are published online prior to the approval, they may be different from what is approved later, which results in incorrect information," he added.

However, despite the controversy, Ong maintained that he did the right thing.

"This is the taxpayers' money, it does not belong to the party. They should not be kept hidden," he said.



At press time, despite the pressure from his party, Ong had not removed details of the allocation from his website (above). In a video posted on the website, the MCA vice-president vowed to continue the practice.

According to the website, Ong made a total of 17 allocations (until September 2006) of between RM5,000 and RM180,000 for mostly road repairs in his Pandan constituency.