MCA president Ong Ka Ting today described the DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang as a person who was ‘power hungry’ and unable to let go of the reins of power in his party even after nearly half-a-decade.

ong ka ting visit ipoh 290208 speech Ong, 52, who is contesting his last general elections, said this when comparing himself to Lim who has contested in elections for the past 42 years.

His speech to Ipoh Chinese guilds representatives was his hardest-hitting attack yet against Lim since the start of election campaign and saw him repeatedly stressing that Lim had contested in elections for 42 years.

"I'm 51 years and three months old. I've only led the MCA for four years and nine months. I know that in four years and three months, my term as party president would be up.

"That's why I clearly said that this is my last general election. I never said 'maybe'. I cannot hold on to his position forever," he said.

Ong said Lim's 42 years of 'making noise' was ineffective as it has not brought anything significant for the community.

Ong also took a swipe at DAP's current campaign slogan which targetted Umno's political dominance.

ong ka ting visit ipoh 290208 ong ka ting in bilik gerakan "DAP is only contesting against the MCA and Gerakan and not at a single Umno seat. Is this what they mean by teaching Umno a lesson? Do they mean what they say?"

He said that the DAP's strategy over the past years had, in fact ,weakened MCA's representation in government and hampered their attempts to serve the Chinese community better from within the government.

Ong also lashed out at Lim for not servicing his constituents since winning the Ipoh Timor parliamentary seat four years ago.

MCA ‘successful’

"He had never solved any problems in the Kinta Valley over the past four years [...] he only knows how to criticise with the hope that people will think he is brave in voicing up," he said.

Ong was on a whirlwind tour of the Kinta Valley where the party hopes to wrest back three parliament seats - Ipoh Timor, Ipoh Barat and Batu Gajah - from the DAP.

MCA has been going on overdrive to convince voters that more of the party’s representation was needed within the government to ensure that Chinese affairs are taken care off and that DAP's opposition role does not benefit the community.

DAP, on the other hand, is trying to convince Kinta Valley's diverse urban voters to reject Umno which the opposition party blames for the woes of the non-Malay communities. They are urging the electorate to dismiss MCA and Gerakan candidates which DAP says are ‘Umno's lackeys’.

ong ka ting visit ipoh 290208 with tajol rosli Ong said that the MCA had their representation increased which won handsomely in the 1999 and in turn had managed to achieve a lot for the Chinese community since then.

Ong said that MCA's successes over the past eight years included building new or relocating 89 Chinese primary schools, getting approvals for 1,000 additional classrooms for Chinese schools and amassing RM550 million for the development of Chinese new villages.

Additionally, he said the MCA has managed to lobby for the abolishment of the rule that government agencies only engage bumiputera companies when purchasing goods worth between RM10,000 to RM15,000.

Over the past eight years, Ong said the MCA had also managed to help secure 2,300 Public Services Department (JPA) scholarships for Chinese students and had also successfully lobbied the government to increase the intake of non-bumiputeras into the civil service.