Many MCA watchers had failed to foresee the killer move undertaken by party vice-president Liow Tiong Lai to cast aside embattled president Ong Tee Keat at the height of the party's crisis last month.

azlan Their failure was not surprising as after all the duo had etched their mark as a formidable tag-team in the so-called 'Team B' faction, during the 'Team A vs Team B' MCA feud during the early 2000s.

Ong was then the national Youth wing chief while Liow was his trusted secretary-general, and the duo paired up again at the party's highest level when they were elected president and vice-president respectively last year.

However last month, Liow did the unthinkable by leading a minority group of 16 central committee members to openly defy Ong's leadership by insisting for fresh elections of the central committee.

Their reason was that the Oct 10 extraordinary general meeting had passed a vote of no-confidence against Ong, and thus fresh elections were necessary to respect the decision of the delegates.

NONE In this, Liow was backed by two powerful allies - women's wing chief Chew Mei Fun and youth section head Wee Ka Siong. They want another EGM to be convened on Nov 28.

Ong meanwhile is resisting the calls for fresh election on the grounds that the decisions made at the Oct 10 EGM had been negated by his greater unity plan with his rival Dr Chua Soi Lek.

‘I meet Liow regularly'

In an exclusive interview with Malaysiakini last Thursday, Ong claimed that Liow's move against him was due to being "pressured" by certain individuals in the party.

Hinting that he has no animosity with Liow, Ong said he meets Liow almost every day to discuss matters.

"We not only meet, but we meet every day... we have been seeing each other, discussing matters," said Ong, adding that he had just met Liow the day before.

NONE Given the apparent cordial relationship, Ong, when asked why he couldn't work out the differences with Liow, said the latter was in a 'difficult position'.

"Yes, there are people giving him pressure," said Ong, but refused to name the individuals involved.

But for now, Ong still appears to have the upper hand against Liow as he controls the majority of the 29 central committee members, while Liow commands less than a third.

Forcing Najib's hand?

Ong also warned that regardless of the Nov 28 EGM outcome, the dissolution of the central committee still needed the endorsement of two-thirds or 29 committee members, as stipulated in the party constitution.

Thus, he argued that the proposed resolution for the EGM called by Liow's camp was against the party constitution.

NONE "Even if the resolution was passed (for fresh CC elections), you still need two-thirds of the central committee members to agree. Are they going to then hold another EGM to sack the central committee?" he asked.

Ong also did not discount the possibility that his rivals were intentionally prolonging the party crisis to force Umno to intervene. He however refused to speculate the potential outcome of such an intervention.

"You should ask them (Liow's camp). They have such intentions," he said.

He argued that any outside interference would not benefit the party, contending that party grassroots and the Chinese community would prefer to see their leaders to use their "wisdom" to end the crisis.

"If we were to do a survey, the grassroots are in favour of the unity plan. A lot of non-party members feel the same. They want us to use internal party mechanisms and our wisdom to resolve the conflict without outside interference," he said.

Committed to work with Soi Lek

Ong also believed that he can truly work with foe-turned-friend Chua as duo were committed to work as a team.

He said he had no personal problems with Chua and strongly denied claims that he had orchestrated the latter's sacking (which was later overturned).

NONE "When we said that we have set aside our differences, we mean it. Some people say to forgive and forget is easier said than done, but at (the very) least, matured politicians should have the magnanimity to forgive," he said.

Ong stressed that the presidential council's decision to endorse the disciplinary committee's recommendation to sack Chua on Aug 26 was a collective decision and not his alone.

He said a vote was taken and this was recorded in the minutes of the meeting.

"Despite the collective decision, you could see that at the end of the day, I had to take the blame when things went awry," he said.

Chua's sacking was rejected by the delegates in the Oct 10 EGM but they refused to reinstate him to his position as the deputy president. However a subsequent CC meeting earlier this month reinstated Chua to that position.

In the interim period, Liow was made the deputy but was then demoted to his vice-presidency post during the CC meeting.

MCA boss: Fresh polls yes, but unity first