The status of former MCA secretary general Ong Ka Chuan's ministry post remained unclear today when party president Ong Tee Keat denied receiving any resignation letter from the former.

Ka Chuan's aide was reported to have said last week that his boss had submitted his resignation letter as the housing and local government minister to the new party supremo.

ong ka chuan and ong tee keat mcaThis was seemingly to enable Tee Keat to nominate new office bearers of the party for cabinet posts. Ka Chuan lost in his bid to become the party deputy president.

Transport Minister Tee Keat was reported by Bernama today as saying that if Ka Chuan had wanted to resign from the cabinet, he should then hand in his resignation letter to the prime minister in accordance with procedure.

"It is true that Ka Chuan and I met after the party elections but it was not for him to hand me any resignation letter. We discussed party matters," he told reporters in Gopeng.

As speculations increased on Ka Chuan's cabinet position last week, Tee Keat had refused to confirm or deny the matter.

Minor reshuffle soon?

Last Friday, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi stated that Ka Chuan was still a member of the cabinet and he had not received any resignation letter from him.

Tee Keat said today that he had nothing to add to what Abdullah had said on the issue.

"It is not something that we have to give priority to. We have so many other major things to look into instead of such speculation.

"People are sometimes convinced by confusing statements from sources," he said.

Ka Chuan was made a cabinet member right after the March 8 general election, replacing his brother and the immediate past party president Ka Ting in the ministry.

His stint in the cabinet is however expected to be a short one following his failure to win any party posts. He was also replaced as party secretary after the party elections last month.

Abdullah has also not ruled out a minor cabinet reshuffle in the near future.