The consequences of expelling Chua Soi Lek

MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat announced that the MCA presidential council expels deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek with immediate effect for his sex scandal in 2007 which was claimed to have tarnished the party's image.


Ong VS Chua

He said, the decision was taken on the recommendation of the party's disciplinary committee. The action triggers the internal crisis and such controversial internal crisis involving personal interest always arises in MCA.

The crisis has become so severe; in particular the crisis would be likely to be worse than the one before and has been ridiculed to a large extent. It created political instability and weaken MCA. The role of represent the aspiration of the Chinese community remains questionable.

The MCA president has his own internal weaknesses. Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd CEO Tiong King Sing, who is also Barisan Nasional backbenchers club chairman not only alleged he had donated RM10 million to Ong for MCA’s division activities as well as Ong had used the company’s private jet five times.

The negative impact for MCA is by far lack internal democracy and dynamic leadership. MCA was proven losing credibility and remains unable to mobilize Chinese community for political reform as proven by the last eight by-elections.

The miscalculations and wrong strategy have contributed to the brewing political crisis that might provide a golden opportunity for the opposition to challenge the BN’s political dominance.

Ironically, efforts should be stepped up to win back the Chinese voters instead of creating crisis.

The question remains: What BN ought to do next?

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PAS won Permatang Pasir with a 4,551-vote majority

PAS’s Mohd Salleh Man has won the Permatang Pasir, its only seat in the Penang state assembly by a majority of 4,551 votes.

Mohd Salleh Man

Mohd Salleh polled 9,618 votes while Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Rohaizat Othman received 5,067 votes in the straight fight.

Voter turnout was 73.1% compared to last year’s 82.57 per cent.
There were 83 spoilt votes.

The constituency has 20,290 registered voters, comprising 72.36% Malays, 25.85% Chinese, 1.63% Indians and 0.16% others.

Will Radzhi contribute to the downfall of Anwar Ibrahim?

It has been suggested that the quitting of Mohd Radzhi Salleh will be the main cause of the Anwar Ibrahim's downfall.

Mohd Radzhi Salleh

Lunas state assemblyman Mohd Radzhi Salleh has announced he had quit Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) to become an independent member of the Kedah legislative assembly.

Radzhi, who is chairman of the Tourism, Community Development and Human Resources Committee, said he would retain the post of state executive councillor as the appointment was made by the Sultan of Kedah.

His decision to leave PKR was due to loss of confidence in the PKR leadership and in keeping with the dissolution of the PKR Padang Serai division announced by division acting chief Jamaludin Abu Hassan who himself had quit the party.

Radzhi and Jamaluddin said they were “disillusioned with PKR’s top leadership”.

They said the party leaders had deviated from their aim of uplifting the people’s needs and rights.

DAP’S behind-the-scenes political motive

The leadership and quality of opposition remain an open question

Can you believe what you read and see?

The leadership and quality of Pakatan Rakyat representatives is obviously a controversial issue. But their performances remain a contentious question.

Muhyiddin : Sort out PKFZ dispute amicably

The PKFZ project is a mega project. It is an important national project for sustainable economic development.

PKFZ, an integrated 400ha free commercial and industrial zone adjacent to Port Klang, houses various facilities such as warehouse, buildings and a four-star hotel.

It became controversial after it was revealed that the cost of development had shot up from RM2.5b to RM4.6b.

Ong Tee Keat

Ironically, the dispute arises from the quarreling in the open between the grown-ups and also leaders of political parties. The Port Klang Authority (PKA) has lodged a police report after a task force set up to investigate the controversy found billing discrepancies of between RM500m and RM1b to Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd, the turnkey contractor of the project and BTA Architects, the project's development contractor.


Tiong King Sing

Kuala Dimensi chief executive officer Tiong King Sing, meanwhile, claimed that he gave RM10m in donation to MCA through party president Ong Tee Keat last year. Ong, who is Transport Minister, denied the claim and said he would take legal action against Tiong.

The PKFZ dispute has become a major issue which attracted the attention as well as speculation among the people in the evaluation of the Barisan Nasional government.

Apparently, there is no single correct measure to the issue. But clearly, some measure ought to be taken more seriously by Barisan Nasional to satisfactorily resolve the crucial controversy.

By far, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin wants both the parties who are embroiled in a dispute over the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) issue to resolve the matter amicably seems to be the only absolutely effective solution to the issue.

Straight fight between PAS and UMNO in Permatang Pasir

The Permatang Pasir state by-election scheduled for 25 Ogos 2009 is a straight fight between PAS state commissioner Mohd Salleh Man, 55, and Young Turk Rohaizat Othman, 38, from Umno.

Rohaizat Othman

Rohaizat Othman, a 38-year-old lawyer, married with one son, is a law graduate from the International Islamic University (UIA).

Mohd. Salleh

A graduate from Universiti Malaya, Mohd Salleh is self employed, previously having worked as a private school manager, a mosque official and an independent religious preacher.

Although Permatang Pasir is a PAS stronghold, but it is believed that UMNO has certain effective strategies to undermine the opposition and winning the seat.

Ironically, it does not ruled out the possibility of BN winning the seat in defending the track record in selecting the most effective strategy to manage the voters.

BN forces are believed to be well organized and have the campaign to gain the visibility and respect.

Ironically, development has long been left out in Permatang Pasir. One of strategies to be truly effective and BN has demonstrated the capacity to mainstream programming the area into the mainstream development programme.

The constituency has 20,290 voters and one postal vote, with 72.36 percent of the electorate being Malays, 25.85 percent Chinese, 1.63 percent Indians and 0.16 percent others. It has 300 new voters.

PPSMI : Smoother transition from English to Bahasa Malaysia

The decision to allow for a smoother transition from English to Bahasa Malaysia in the teaching science and mathematics in schools is most welcome.

The attention to the case is a fair decision-making to the affected students.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said, both Science and Mathematics would be taught in English and BM for national schools and mother tongue languages for vernacular schools, beginning 2010.

It would start in stages, starting 2012 for Year 1, Year 4, Form 1 and Form Four. Form six and matriculation students are not involved.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said, students sitting for Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) would be provided options to answer questions either in English or BM till 2016.

He stressed that the government would allow the present cohorts of students affected or "trapped" by the change in policy to study both subjects in both BM and English.

Chinese votes for PAS in Permatang Pasir is eroded

BN can win Permatang Pasir state seat by taking advantage of the eroded Chinese votes for PAS in Permatang Pasir.

It is well known fact that the opposition coalition remains questionable. PAS wanted an Islamic state while DAP strongly opposed to any ideas of turning Malaysia into an Islamic State.

The by-election in Permatang Pasir is set to be a straight fight between arch-rivals PAS and Umno.

Additionally, Pakatan are struggling with his own internal struggle due to the lacking of internal communications and a coordination mechanism.

PAS is the minority in the Pakatan Rakyat Penang state government as Permatang Pasir is the sole PAS seat in Penang. It is one of three state seats in PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim's Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency.

DAP was under the spotlight for not accommodate Pas' interests in the Penang state government. The internal and intra-party differences in Pakatan Rakyat benefit BN and weaken the support for PAS.

Strategically, BN can win Permatang Pasir state seat by taking advantage of the divided Pakatan Rakyat but it has to run the campaign effectively to win the heart and mind of the voters.

The Election Commission fixed Aug 25 for the Permatang Pasir state seat by-election in Penang. Nominations will be on Aug 17, the Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan as fasting is expected to begin on Aug 21.

Let's wait and see how the opposition solves their differences.