MCA secretary-general Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha, brushed aside state DAP chairman Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham's claim that he was too afraid to face him when campaigning at a wet market.
Kong said a statement posted Ngeh's Facebook page on Monday, implied that he succumbed to public pressure and had no choice but leave the premises.
The statement, written in Mandarin, on Ngeh's page read: Ngeh Koo Ham and First Admiral (R) Imran bumped into AES' Minister Kong Cho Ha and Ting Tai Fook when visiting the Looking Good wet market.
There is no need to amend the Road Transport Act 1987 as the mandatory jail sentence for dangerous driving leading to the death of accident victims is already provided under the act.
Transport Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha in a statement today said studies, however, could be done to gauge the effectiveness of the existing law with the aim of improving it in future.
He said there are six sections that incorporated prison sentences - varying between three months to 10 years - based on the seriousness of the offences committed by drivers.
"The offences were causing death by reckless or dangerous driving, reckless and dangerous driving, careless and inconsiderate driving, driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs and being in charge of motor vehicles when under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs," he said.
Sarawak DAP’s refusal to don the ceremonial attire and songkok during the opening of the Sarawak State Assembly sitting reflects its practise of inciting racial sentiments among the Chinese community, said an MCA leader.
In the past, the DAP never failed to condemn the MCA for donning the headgear during the opening ceremony of any legislative assembly, be it at Parliament or at the state level, said party secretary-general Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha.
“The DAP never could comprehend that wearing the songkok was in line with decorum and respect, and had nothing to do with bowing to racial hegemony.
“Wearing the songkok should not be dragged into a racial argument which the DAP seems to be fanning,” he said in a statement yesterday.
While the Selangor and Penang DAP had backed down from their past ways of refusing to don the songkok, Sarawak DAP remained obstinate in rejecting it and blaming it on the Speaker’s previous ruling.
“Within the Opposition itself, its leaders do not hold common values,” he said.
All the president’s men: Dr Chua walking out of the brainstorming camp with MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, secretary-general Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha (right) and other party leaders at Ayer Keroh, Malacca, Friday.
The MCA presidential council is backing its president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek's call for the party to give up all government posts if the Chinese community did not support its candidates in the next general election.
Dr Chua said the decision was taken after much consideration as this was to show our respect to the electorate, especially the Chinese community, hence we will turn down any offer for Government positions, he told reporters after the meeting at a resort here.
Electric bicycles may be taken off the road if the Cabinet accepts a recommendation from the Transport Ministry.
Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha said he will be presenting a paper during Friday’s Cabinet meeting to recommend disallowing electric bicycles, citing safety reasons.
He said continuing to allow electric bicycles, which have battery-powered motors, could result in a higher risk of injury or death.
MCA secretary-general Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha has received a petition to request for an extraordinary meeting to decide on the postponement of its party elections.
An independent board of inquiry will be set up to investigate the Cameron Highlands bus crash that killed 27 people on Monday, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha said.
It would also look at the overall structure of commercial vehicle operations and come up with recommendations to the government on how to improve the operations.
"As far as commercial vehicles are concerned, there are many agencies involved. So, the board would inquire into the coordination, the responsibility of the licensing body, responsibility of operators and permit holders.
"It would also look at the conditions set for these operators, the validity or competency of drivers and the due diligence of the company in complying with the conditions set," he said.
Speaking to reporters at the ministry, Kong said the decision to set up the board was made by the cabinet in its meeting today.
The New Transport Minister Kong. Survive setback losing the deputy president election in MCA against current Health Minister Dr Liow.
Labis MP Chua Tee Yong, get promoted to deputy minister post in argiculture.Father is Dr Chua is President MCA keep promise of not wanting any cabinet post if winning MCA president post.Properly to shield BN from embrassing as Dr Chua involve in the sex tape scandal few years ago. However,Dr Chua son get the promotion .He is 32 years old.
Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat lost his cabinet post after losing to Dr Chua in Presidential post election in MCA.This may be the end of Ong political career in MCA.
Datuk Wira Chor Chee Heung was appointed the new Housing and Local Government Minister while Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha replaced Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat as Transport Minister in a minor Cabinet reshuffle today.Chor replace Kong as Kong get the Transport Minister post.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced the appointments today, which are seen as a reflection of the recent MCA elections which saw Ong lose the presidency to former Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek.
The Housing and Local Government Ministry asked the Selangor government to immediately investigate what could be irregularities in the allocation of low-cost flats by housing developers in the state.
Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha said though the ministry had not received any complaint from the public on the matter, it is up to the Selangor government and its local authority to resolve the issue of low-cost houses built for the poor that were instead taken up by Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) staff.
Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai current minister of health and CC committee.In political move try to ouster the MCA President Ong.Ong in another drastic move reconcile with politcial rival Dr Chua(below) to force a full election to dethrone the whole CC.
Dr Chua , ex minister of health , resigned all posts during his sex dvd scandal.But in a popular votes reinstated back as Vice President. But strip of power by Ong the MCA president and in a unpopular move used the CC discipline committee to remove Dr chua from the vice president post. However , Chua with supporters have an emergeny EGM for no confident vote against Ong.
Ong only won by 14 votes.Shocked by the less votes of confident Ong still refuse to resign.In a politic move, Dr Liow , reinstalled himself as the Vice President and try to force Ong to resign by suggesting for new presidentian elections by using 2nd EGM move , caught Ong and Chua surprise off guard.
However , in a drastic political move , Ong reconcile with Chua and use his Presidential power to sack some CC members who voiced out against him. Those sacked including the MCA Wanita Chief and MCA Youth Chief sending shocks across MCA and whole Malaysia.Further tearing MCA with instabilityand exposing internal MCA power struggle and disunity.
Ong rewarded Chua back with his Johor MCA chief posts and elected his son the MP labis into the CC. A move to solid back his relationship with Chua.Currently Chua got back his Vice President post , is playing meditator between the Ong and Liow , and statemate occurs in MCA causing further instability and uncertainty. With PM Malaysia Najib advice , new election in MCA will happen soon, by using the clause if the 2/3 of Centre Committee members resign , MCA will have election in 30 days.So far 12 CC under Liow resigned. Only need more 8.
Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan rumours said will fight for the top posts
MCA fresh polls after holidays.March 2010 is target.
Despite missing the Dec 25 deadline by MCA to get two-thirds of the central committee (CC) members to resign to trigger re-elections, party sources say fresh polls are likely to be held in March, the month deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek has deemed fit.
Sources close to Chua's faction disclosed that although Chua has told the media that the presidential council and central committee, and not outside forces including pressure from Barisan Nasional component parties, would determine whether fresh elections would be held, there is no denying that it is the wishes of both the prime minister and his deputy to see MCA hold re-elections soonest.
According to a report in China Press today, a consensus on the polls date has been reached following a meeting between Prime Minister and BN chairman Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak and Chua's faction.
Sources told the daily re-elections would likely be held in March, which Chua has favoured.
The sources also said Chua would, through the special committee on party re-elections, propose to the presidential council the tentative date for fresh polls. Nevertheless, the final decision is with the CC.
Vice-president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, who submitted undated resignation letter together with 12 CC members aligned with him on Dec 15, has wanted fresh polls to be held next month but is unable to get the numbers needed to trigger automatic re-elections, the sources pointed out.
"However, with the help of CC members aligned with Chua, and with vice-president Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha and Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen lending their support on the advice of the prime minister, getting enough CC members to agree to hold fresh polls in March is not a problem."
The sources said in order for polls to take place in March at least eight more CC members will have to resign by late January or early February.
Under the party constitution, fresh polls must be held within 30 days after two-thirds or more of the elected members in the CC have resigned.
Sources close to Chua said the deputy president is likely to go for the top post and his opponent is most likely to be former secretary-general Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan.
"There is a 60% chance that Chua will contest the top post but his main worry is the sex DVD incident," said the sources.
Meanwhile, Chua, in a statement to the Press today said he would call for the MCA special committee for fresh party election meeting after Christmas and New Year holidays.
"Since there are many members in the special committee of which includes two MCA Ministers who are currently overseas; the committee is unable to hold any meeting to discuss further plans," he said.
He added that once the date for the special committee meeting is determined, the MCA secretariat will issue notification to relevant committee members as well as to the media.
Chua confirms MCA special committee to meet after holidays
MCA deputy president Dr Chua Soi Lek will set the date for the party’s special committee for fresh party election to meet again after the current holiday season.
“In the meantime, I will not respond to any issue or matter pertaining to the fresh polls until the date for the meeting is confirmed,” he said in a statement.
Dr Chua said many committee members, including two MCA ministers, were currently overseas.
The coming meeting is likely to discuss the next course of action for the party’s prolonged crisis.
On Dec 15, vice-president Datuk Liow Tiong Lai and 12 others had tendered undated resignation letters as CC members but as of the Dec 25 deadline, it was believed that no new resignation letters were received by the party.
Two-thirds of elected CC members must step down to pave the way for fresh party polls.
MCA secretary-general Datuk Wong Foon Meng meet with Datuk Seri Tan Chai Ho the EGM chief coordinator for Dr Chua.Both has now agree to have a single EGM known as the Presidential EGM. Both parties are hopely will meet to fix the date for the EGM.
Datuk Seri Tan Chai Ho EGM action committee chief coordinator
Dr Liow and Kong are seen as replacement for the Ong and Chua , if Ong and Chua voluntary resign for the sake of unity in MCA.
The leaders of a campaign to topple Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat as MCA president met with the party secretary general to explore the possibility of combining their extraordinary general meeting (EGM) with a competing one called by Ong himself.
This comes after MCA secretary general Datuk Wong Foon Meng tried to avert a two EGM scenario and gave supporters of sacked deputy president Datuk Chua Soi Lek until today to submit their EGM agenda saying that two EGMs would be a waste of party resources and delegate’s time.
The deadline was extended indefinitely following the meeting between Datuk Seri Tan Chai Ho, who is chief coordinator of the campaign, and Wong.
Tan, who came with a copy of the five resolutions of what has been called the central delegate’s EGM, had wanted to exchange agendas with what is now called the president’s EGM.
MCA secretary-general Datuk Wong Foon Meng today announced that both party president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat and deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek's camps had agreed to a joint extraordinary general meeting.
Supporters of sacked MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek want the party president, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, to propose a date for the next meeting between the two warring factions to discuss matters pertaining to a single Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM).
It was learned that Ong's resolutions will include the central delegates' endorsement of the decision to expel Chua and also to support Ong in getting to the bottom of the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal. It was reported that the committee has two major resolutions for the EGM, which were to: > Reinstate Chua as the deputy president; and > Move a motion of no-confidence against Ong.
Earlier Tan told reporters the discussion with Wong did not take place because the action committee wanted to read Ong's resolutions before submitting its resolutions to the party headquarters.
"We would like to thank Wong for meeting us but we can only discuss when the president's resolutions are ready. To be fair, it is better for us to read the resolutions together. We will decide on the possibility to hold the EGM together after going through the president's resolutions and we hope that Ong will sit down and talk to us," he said, adding that another date will be fixed for the discussion.
Asked how many resolutions have been drafted by the committee, Tan said he will only make public the resolutions after discussion with party headquarters.
On whether the committee has an ideal date for the EGM, he said he was unable to say, but that it shall be decided by the secretary-general after the committee has officially submitted the petition for an EGM.
"We are ready to submit the petition anytime as we have collected more than 800 signatures and we will continue to receive signatures from the central delegates," he said.
On the accusation that some central delegates were forced to sign the petition, Tan said the delegates signed voluntarily after reading the resolutions and witnessed by lawyers and oath commissioners.
MCA Disciplinary Board Asked To Be On Lookout For Money Politics
MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat wants the party's disciplinary board to be on the lookout for money politics ahead of its extraordinary general meeting (EGM).
The Transport Minister said MCA viewed the matter seriously and would not compromise on money politics in whatever form.
"Perhaps our disciplinary board or MCA's secretariat can follow up on this. We cannot compromise on any kind of graft or commonly known as money politics," he told reporters after holding a meeting with Pahang MCA members here Saturday.
Prior to this, MCA secretary-general Datuk Wong Foon Meng had stated that there had been numerous complaints from the grassroots alleging "signatures were being bought" for the convening of a rival party EGM.
Central Delegates lobby to replace Ong and Chua with Liow and Kong
Sin Chew Daily recently found that some MCA Central delegates have started to lobby other Central delegates to quell the current dispute and internal conflict by asking President Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat and Deputy President Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek to resign, and electing successors to replace them.
It is reported that these Central delegates reflect the current idea of the grass-roots in which they support neither Ong nor Dr Chua. They believe that the current situation of the party is derived from the hatred between Ong and Dr Chua instead of the whole leadership. Also, they do not wish the hatred to cause another unnecessary party struggle and split.
It is understood that these Central delegates are trying to contact and propose the idea to other Central delegates who tend to support the Chua faction. They lobby them to persuade Dr Chua to accept the proposal.
It is said that they believe that if both Ong and Dr Chua step down, the Central Committee will elect the most suitable candidates to be their successors.
Among the four Vice-Presidents, namely Datuk Kong Cho Ha, Datuk Seri Dr Liow Tiong Lai, Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen and Tan Kok Hong, Kong and Dr Liow(the current Minister of Health of Malalysia ) are most likely to be elected as the successors.
It is said that the Central delegates, who tend to support the Chua faction, have not yet given any response to the proposal, but they wonder whether Ong is willing to step down. They believe that in order to have both Ong and Dr Chua resign, they must first have Dr Chua back to the party for discussions and negotiations.
A MCA veteran pointed out that there are only two options available for MCA now. Firstly, they have to choose between Ong and Dr Chua; secondly, both of Ong and Dr Chua have to resign.
Power struggle between Num1 and Num2 man. Ong vs Chua. But Chua finally got sacked from MCA for sex scandal. Dr Chua was caught on hidden spy CCTV having sex with another woman (not his wife) . Subsequently Dr Chua resign from all posts in MCA and government which include Ministry of Health , State Chief , Centre Committee , and others. However , in one of the greatest come back , Dr Chua was elected as Vice President to MCA . However 18 months later Dr Chua was punished again and this time sacked from MCA . Many believe this is Ong move to distract people from the PKFZ scandal and solidify his power.
THE MCA Disciplinary Board .(L-R) Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha (VP) , Ong Tee Keat Datuk(MCA President) ,Wong Foon Meng (party secretary-general),vice-president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai (VP) and Wanita MCA chief Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun
Wong (left) speaking to reporters at a press conference after the party’s presidential council meeting in Kuala Lumpur Tuesday. With him is party vice-president Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha.
Dr Chua speaking to supportors.
MCA veteran Tan Sri Lee Kim Sai said today the MCA can "kill two birds with one stone" by having one extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to deal with the current turmoil in the party. He said the EGM could deal with the issue of confidence in the leadership of party president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat and the recent sacking of Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek from the party at the same sitting.
"No need to have two EGMs. Just one is enough, with these two agendas. One is for the vote of confidence and the other on Dr Chua. Let the delegates decide," he told Bernama today.
MCA has decided to have only one extraordinary general meeting (EGM) and delegates were told to submit their agendas to the party headquarters by Friday.
The directive came from party secretary-general Datuk Wong Foon Meng, who said this was to avoid too many meetings which will cause unnecessary inconvenience to delegates.
● Wong said MCA will start preparing for the EGM after Friday, including sending out notices.
● Both vice-president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai and Youth Chief Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong have voiced their agreement for a single EGM.
● Liow has also denied that the present issue is a repeat of the 1984 party crisis involving the then leaders.
● Former deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek wants to go ahead with his supporters’ plan for their own EGM.
Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, who was sacked as MCA deputy president by the MCA presidential council over his DVD sex scandal last week, had described Ong’s move to call the EGM as a “blatant use of executive power”. “It was the grassroots who first started the ball rolling in petitioning for an EGM. Ong’s move in calling another EGM is aimed at confusing the members.”
Ong made the surprise move in calling the EGM on Monday under Article 30.1 of the party’s constitution to allow members to reflect on the direction in which the party should be heading.
He said president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat's decision showed a lack of consistency in his leadership.
"When I was sacked and there was talk of my supporters having an EGM, the president's supporters criticised and condemned it.
"Now, hardly three days later, Ong decides to have an EGM. His whole motive is to confuse the delegates," he told the New Straits Times yesterday.
Chua said he will leave it to the political maturity of the delegates to decide on the future direction of the party. "They are clear as to what the president should do and shouldn't do."
He also took a swipe at the party's leadership, including the disciplinary board's recommendation that he be expelled due to his involvement in a sex scandal as it would be a burden to the party.
"If I am a burden to the party, then the grassroots should be happy with the decision.
"Why has it evoked such strong protests from members that the leadership is forced to go on a nationwide briefing to explain the situation?"
He added he had not decided whether to appeal against his sacking, saying that he needed more time to consider his options.
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Upon arrival at the party's headquarters in Jalan Ampang Chua Soi Lek was asked to predict how the presidential council meeting would go, he replied by grabbing his throat with his hand and said, "Gantung mati" (hanged to death) thrice in succession.
Chua was not allowed to participate in the meeting as he was an interested party.
He said he had received a report from the disciplinary committee which recommended the presidential council to sack him.
He added that he will adhere to whatever decision made by the party on the matter.
He noted that the presidential council usually endorsed decisions made by the disciplinary committee.
He also said that he hoped party president and his rival Ong Tee Keat will "sleep well tonight after I'm expelled".
He said that Ong had been seeing him as an enemy and the biggest threat since party elections last October.
"Members must take necessary action to stop the party from being destroyed by one person," he said.
