Oct 22, 09 8:18pm
MCA president Ong Tee Keat has come out with an extraordinary, well-conceived plan in another brilliant political move to unite the party following the outcome of the Oct 10 EGM and subsequently the powerful Central Committee (CC) meeting last Thursday.
Party sources said Ong had carefully executed the plan immediately after last Thursday's CC meeting where some of his supporters plotted unsuccessfully to topple him from the party presidency.
The plan failed to materialise after Ong decided to invoke Article 30.1 of the party constitution, directing party secretary-general Wong Foon Ming to call for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to determine whether the party should go for fresh elections.A party insider said MCA vice-president Dr Ng Yen Yen and another CC member Ti Lian Ker had played some role behind the scene to get the two leaders together, including contacting Chua in Singapore on Sunday.
"Following that, Chua returned on Monday and immediately Ong met Chua face to face. They talked for several hours and worked out the unity plan.
"This was followed by several meetings before both agreed to brief the prime minister on their proposal," a party insider who has knowledge of the plan told Bernama.
When asked on their role, both Ng and Ti refused to comment except saying that they were happy that both leaders were able to work together again "without being influenced by others".
PM was sceptical at first
Another party source said initially Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak was sceptical about the plan when briefed about it.
"Only after some convincing explanation by Chua that the prime minister gave his blessing," said the source.
The party insider explained that the Ong-Chua meeting took place at the same time Ong was meeting his newly elected deputy president Liow Tiong Lai to solve the party's internal crisis.
"The only thing is that they did not meet all together at the same time but were aware of each other's meeting," the insider said.
Some of Ong's hardcore supporters said he did not find it a problem to work with Chua after realising that he was "betrayed by some of his most trusted supporters" in the CC."The people who asked him to remove Chua from the party are the same who want to topple him from the party presidency. The mistake was that he trusted these people too much and never wanted to talk directly to Chua.
"He now realises his mistake. After talking directly to Chua in the past few days, he found it was actually not that difficult to talk to him. That was how they could work out the unity plan," said a CC member who requested anonymity.
Backstabbers beware
While the details of the "greater unity plan" is not being revealed yet, it is learnt that those involved are waiting for the decision of the Registrar of Societies (ROS) on the position of Chua in the party after the Oct 10 EGM.
Therefore, it is interesting to watch the next move by all these leaders involved in the next few days, particularly the fate of those who went against Ong previously.
They include some elected and appointed CC members.
"All eyes will now be on these people, including ministers and deputy ministers, who have been very vocal in calling for Ong to step down," said a party source.
"Therefore, in politics there is this saying that there is no permanent enemies and no permanent friends," he said.
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