Ong Tee Keat Strengthens Grip On MCA
Written by Writer on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
Ong Tee Keat Strengthens Grip On MCA
By Alan Ting
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 11 (Bernama) — MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat has strengthened his political base in the party by appointing most of his trusted supporters and aides to hold key positions in the party.
Among them are the two key allies in the party, Deputy Speaker of Dewan Negara, Senator Datuk Wong Foon Meng as the new secretary-general, while corporate leader, Senator Tan Sri Tee Hock Seng as the new MCA treasurer-general.
Both are also being appointed as the state chairmen, with Wong taking over the Selangor chairmanship from Tee Keat, and Hock Seng taking over the Federal Territory chairmanship from Datuk Tan Chai Ho.
Tee Keat also beefed up key positions in the party from his trusted supporters from the youth wings, namely MCA Youth vice-chairman Wyman Yoo Wei How who was appointed as the the new party national organising secretary, and MCA Youth Organising Secretary Gan Hong Su as the new national deputy organising secretary.
Apart from that, the new MCA president was also strengthening his grip on the state leadership by taking over the chairmanship of Johor MCA from former party presiddent Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting.
He also appointed Youth Chief Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong as Melaka state chairman and one of his strong supporters in Negeri Sembilan, Datuk Dr Yeow Chai Tiam, as the new state chairman.
While all these appointments can be regarded as an effort to strengthen his political base in the party, particularly in key positions, there were also other party leaders who were believed to be a “compromise” between the previous and current MCA leadership.
It was also believed that a compromise was being reached between the leaders of the various groups as the party’s popular support is basically divided into five groups — the Ong brothers, former deputy president Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy, current deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, former vice-president Datuk Chua Jui Meng and Tee Keat’s own supporters.
“For me, it’s more like the Chan group emerged as the winner in this brokering process,” a veteran leader told Bernama.
“You also have to bear in mind that Datuk Wong (Foon Meng) is also a strong supporter for former MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting. For me it’s more like it was a compromise between the former president and current president,” he added.
However, some party insiders pointed out that it was only natural for Tee Keat to pick Wong since both of them are known to enjoy a close friendship after they were sidelined when Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik was the party president.
“Moreover both of them are Hainanese. For me, it’s more likely that Tee Keat needs somebody he can fully trust to hold the key position,” he said.
Whatever it is, most of party leaders and insiders agreed that judging from today’s appointments, the bigger losers would be Dr Chua as none of his supporters were being chosen to fill up key party posts.
Dr Chua himself, despite being the party deputy president, was not being appointed to head any state liaison committee, while the two new vice- presidents, Datuk Liow Tiong Lai and Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen have been retained as state chairmen for Penang and Kelantan respectively.
Another vice-president, Datuk Kong Cho Ha has been appointed as Perak state chairman, replacing MCA secretary-general, Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan, who is the current Housing and Local Government Minister, who lost to Dr Chua for the party deputy president’s post.
Kong’s appointment as Perak state chairman has increased speculation that the deputy finance minister and member of Parliament for Lumut would be promoted to full minister.
“It seems that these appointments were a calculated move to check on Dr Chua’s influence in the party to ensure he would not gain enough support to challenge the party president,” a party insider said.
– BERNAMA
