Media Statement by Lim Kit Siang in Petaling Jaya on Friday, 23^rd October 2009: 

Three MCA factions of Ong, Liow and Chua re-assembled as “1MCA” under Najib’s “1Malaysia” dictate with RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal as the greatest casualty as it has disappeared from the radar of the MCA leaders

The three MCA factions of Ong Tee Keat, Liow Tiong Lai and Chua Soi Lek have re-assembled as “1MCA” under the dictate of Prime Minister Najib Razak’s “1Malaysia” but the “mother of all scandals”, the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal is the greatest casualty as it has disappeared from the radar of the MCA leaders.

When the Ong faction split asunder at the MCA central committee meeting of Oct. 14 following Ong’s refusal to resign as MCA President despite the passing of a motion of no confidence in his leadership at the Oct. 10 MCA extraordinary general meeting (EGM), Ong wrote in his blog to justify his decision:

“I still have a long list of unfinished business involving Party and public interests, like the direct election of the MCA presidency and the Port Klang Free Zone issue. It is my wish to see such issues be addressed without any abrupt disruption.”

Yesterday, Ong conspicuously omitted any mention of the PKFZ scandal when he reiterated that he had “unfinished work” as reasons for the reconciliation with Chua and Liow to reassemble the ill-fated and short-lived “1MCA-1Team” which he had launched on the eve of the Oct. 10 EGM but had not survived for more than 48 hours.

Is full accountability and transparency for the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal a casualty of the latest MCA “greater unity plan” of the Ong, Liow and Chua factions?

Clearly, it will not be the only one.

For some two months in the run-up to the Oct. 10 MCA EGM, the over 2,400 MCA delegates, the Chinese community and the Malaysian people were told that great issues of right and wrong were involved but they have proved to be, as Shakespeare would describe it, “A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”.

The roiling MCA crisis provide many salutary lessons why statements by political leaders cannot be taken at their face value. For instance, while Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy Umno President, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was saying publicly on Tuesday that Najib will not intervene in the MCA leadership crisis unless asked to do so by all members of the MCA Central Committee, top MCA leaders were already trooping into Najib’s presence for a “peace pow-wow” without the knowledge or consent of the MCA central committee members.

The Oct. 10 MCA EGM proved that there were not just two factions - Ong and Chua factions - in the MCA, but also a “third force” causing the EGM to end with a most unprecedented and completely unexpected result, rejecting both Ong and Chua.

But hovering over them is a more powerful force – the “super force” of Umno, as personified by Najib.

The MCA central committee members, the 2,300 delegates, the Malaysian Chinese community and the entire Malaysian people have all been taken for a ride!

*Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary leader & MP for Ipoh Timor