KUALA LUMPUR: MCA president Chua Soi Lek has squashed off news reports that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had requested him to step down as party boss, saying that MCA is free from any external influence unlike MIC.
Chua was referring to Lim Ah Lek’s recent remarks to Sin Chew Daily that Najib has wished to see a new MCA president who can lead the party out of its current dilemma.
Chua lambasted Lim, the former MCA deputy president, for doing a great disservice to the party by painting a picture that it is subservient to Umno.
“When I met with PM, he denied to me that he has ever told Lim that I should not seek for re-election.
“Lim is doing a disservice to the party, he was literally saying the moment Umno steps out, everyone will be afraid of them.
“I also tell PM that MCA is not like MIC, and Lim’s time has long passed,” he told a media conference after his last central committee meeting ahead of MCA polls slated for Dec 21.
Retired in 2004, Lim was widely regarded as the mentor of current MCA deputy president Liow Tiong Lai, who until recently has been at loggerheads with Chua.
Umno has brokered a no-contest deal for MIC president G. Palanivel and deputy president S. Subramaniam before the party election.
Chua said today that when he first returned to contest MCA deputy presidency in 2008 after his sex scandal, certain quarters had also cited the name of the prime minister to discredit him.
“So that’s why party delegates have to use their wisdom to decide on who to elect,” he said.
Meanwhile, the former Labis MP also admitted that an agreement was struck between his team and Liow’s team, which resulted in only 15 leaders from his team contesting two of the four vice presidents’ posts and 13 out of 25 central committee posts.
He said there was however no agreement made on the party president and deputy president candidatures.
Chua’s son Tee Yong made the announcement on behalf of the 15 leaders last Friday, saying that they do not intend to contest all seats in order to allow the other side to take part.
Wanita chief aspirant vows to combat money politics
On a related matter, MCA central committee member Tan Cheng Liang has announced her bid to vie for the Wanita chief post.
She is set to lock horns with the current Wanita deputy chief Heng Seai Kie, who was also the former deputy women minister.
Tan admitted that the culture of money politics is pandemic within MCA and the party would be heading to doom should it fail to address the issue.
“Even Chua has said that we should reject money politics, so no doubt there is such practice in the party.
“We must understand that the public sentiment now is against corruption, so if we still persist in doing this, we will be heading to doom,” she said.
Tan also claimed that “certain individual” has employed money tactics to buy votes in the recent Penang Wanita polls, which saw her losing to Ooi Siew Khim in a straight fight.
She vowed to eradicate money politics through education and cultivation of right values in the party
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