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What a comedy – Ah Lek’s proposal to Ka Ting to vie for the Presidency of the MCA (the Chinese component party of the Barisan Nasional).
If there ever was a poison chalice given to an opponent, this must be it!
I surmise that, if Ka Ting were to put on his thinking cap as a former political secretary he would refuse the suggestion outright and if he behaves as a former minister, the lust for power would seduce him and he would fall for the bait, hook, line and sinker!
I have held back my commentary till today because I wanted to see whether Ka Ting would realize the trap that he had walked into. He may have second thoughts, because the mainstream mass media have reported that Ka Ting has indicated that his candidacy would not be as easy as assured by Ah Lek and his band of has-beens and indicated that he might want to have a “jaw, jaw” with Ong Tee Keat, the incumbent president, to work out an exit strategy.
There is the much quoted cliché that in politics there are no permanent friends or enemies. It follows that political relationships are grounded on opportunism and the advancement of self-interest.
Every Chinese in Malaysia knows that Ah Lek hates the guts of Ka Ting way back during the infamous “MCA crisis between Team A and Team B” as Ka Ting was the master strategist behind the then President of MCA, Tun Ling Leong Sik.
Ah Lek’s antagonism towards Leong Sik was supposedly because his protégé Chan Kong Choy was sidelined, so that Ka Ting would succeed Leong Sik. But all along, Ah Lek’s hidden agenda was to be the President for one term at the minimum.
However, the drama turned out differently, Leong Sik and Ah Lek were rejected by the Chinese community and Ka Ting and Kong Choy teamed up and took over the party!
So, is the suggestion from Ah Lek that Ka Ting is sorely needed to save the party a genuine attempt to resolve the crisis or is there a hidden agenda?
Consider the following:
1. The Ministry of Transport is the coveted ministry of the MCA and the President gets this turf.
2. Ka Ting on assuming the Presidency declined this coveted prize and handed it over to his “team-mate” Kong Choy. Why?
3. The Port Klang financial fiasco was already brewing and came to the boil under Kong Choy’s watch when key officials misled the Board and the scandal is now a matter of criminal investigations.
4. Tee Keat, an old “ally” of Ah Lek and Kong Choy in Team B during the previous MCA crisis, unwittingly agreed to take over the portfolio when he became the President. He walked into a minefield of vested interests. His political secretary should have known better.
And as they say, the rest is history.
In the unlikely event that Ka Ting succeeds in wresting the Presidency from Tee Keat, would he (as a condition for the support of the has-beens) become the Minister of the Transport Ministry?
I would advise Ka Ting to put on his thinking cap as a former political secretary rather than a former minister. He knows as well as I do, a political secretary often sees political storms quite differently from a minister. It is the duty of the political secretary to remove all potential minefields in the path of his political master. This is why a good political secretary is a tremendous asset to his political master, on this issue alone!
Who is going to remove this minefield laid by your implacable enemy, Ah Lek?
You have already stepped into the minefield. There is only one way out – retreat carefully and gently, just as you have resigned gracefully after MCA was trashed mercilessly in the 2008 General Elections. And although Pak Lah bore the brunt of the blame for the dismal and disgraceful performance of the Barisan Nasional, you must admit that you were responsible in part for the fall out with the electorate, the perception of the Ong Ka Ting – Ong Ka Chuan dynasty!
You won the respect of many for the selfless act of relinquishing the presidency, the only leader in the Barisan Nasional to do so. So why do you want to muddy your reputation?
But unfortunately for you, Ah Lek misread the import of my previous article, Barisan Nasional Will Pay A Heavy Price for the MCA Fiasco, and calculated that an opportunity could be exploited to get rid of a former ally whose actions have harmed his protégé, by proposing that you contest for the presidency.
Get out while there is still time. This is the only anti-dote for the poison chalice given by Ah Lek!
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