Just weeks after its party elections, the gloves appear to have come off as MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat and his rivals have started engaging in another battle for control over the beleaguered party.
Tee Keat came out swinging today in defending his choices for the party's new leadership line-up, saying his decisions were not meant to please a "certain group of persons."
He also said that in any political party there could only be one person at the helm, in what was a pointed reference to deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, who has been at odds with him since the party election campaign period.
"Did you see Annette Lu giving out commands when Chen Shui Bian was the president of Taiwan? The same goes for Ma Ying-jeou, you will not see Vincent Siew standing out and making comments. And I am quite sure you don't see PKR's Syed Husin Ali giving out orders," he said an interview published today.
Announcing key leadership posts on Tuesday, he sidelined Dr Chua from any significant responsibilities in the party.
In response, Dr Chua said yesterday that he wanted to apologise to party members because "it is not that I do not want to work for MCA but I have been given limited space by the president."
Tee Keat also denied today that his leadership line-up was meant to oust leaders associated with former president Ong Ka Ting's Team A faction.
"Everyone has a right to making their own interpretations," he told the newspaper.
"As for the various comments, I will treat them as if I were reading the entertainment news. It will be like one extra entertainment page in the newspapers."
Tee Keat also dismissed as "strange" the roiling speculation that former deputy president Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy who was part of the party's Team B faction was behind the slew of unexpected appointments to key posts.
On Tuesday, Tee Keat removed Datuk Ong Ka Chuan, who is Ka Ting's brother, as secretary-general, replacing him with the relatively unknown Datuk Wong Foon Meng, who is together with the new treasurer Tan Sri Tee Hock Seng, said to be close to Chan.
Known as the party's so-called "Lone Ranger," the party president appears to be fighting on many fronts against a slew of forces aligned against him.
While there are high expectations among MCA members for him to help the party close ranks, his behavior and demeanour so far has been of a leader under siege.
While the party has been wracked by severe divisions into two rival Team A and Team B factions previously, it now appears to be fragmented into many more blocs.
Asked why certain leaders were left out of key positions in the party, he would only say that "you will understand me later."
He did however point out that it was not party tradition for the deputy president to be appointed the disciplinary bureau chief, in reference to the appointment of Datuk Ng Cheng Kiat instead of Soi Lek.
Soi Lek has been appointed head of the relatively unimportant position of head of the party's government policy monitoring bureau.
The party No 2 also said yesterday that he would leave it to the members to decide if Tee Keat's appointments will help the party close ranks or whether it is to strengthen his own grip on MCA.
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