Budget 2010 revealed by PM Najib Razak was so boring that one was wondering if it was so difficult to draft a better budget that could benefit the average Joes. Why on earth would anyone care about the 1% reduction in income tax for those who earn above RM100,000 per annum? The cost of living was so high that it would be interesting to see the reaction from average-Joes when Najib’s administration is set to introduce the much talk about GST soon (budget 2011?). The fact is although Najib may like (was he?) to do more to win back voters’ confidence he couldn’t do so simply because the escalating corruption is beyond his control lest he wish to start a new war with the UMNO warlords.
Sure, the PM was reported to be concerned about the recent leakages in the audit report but nobody in the right minds believe Najib would do anything except merely sloganeering – just like his predecessor Abdullah Badawi. The whole government’s structure is so corrupted that people has accepted such culture to be part of the country’s administration led by BN. Najib should thank his advisor, former premier Mahathir, because without his mentor the country would not flourish with corruption till today hence the PM does not have to quietly minus about 30% off the budget expenditure as leakages. Was the country so broke that the government has to re-introduce the previously scrapped property tax at this juncture?
Anyway, there is a more interesting drama happening than the boring budget 2010. Many people had predicted MCA President Ong Tee Kiat and his former deputy Chua Soi Lek to follow the history of their predecessors’ fate, Team-A and Team-B, of which will see the departure of both for “younger” successors. You may not like Ong Tee Kiat but in the latest political move you just got to admire this lone ranger. At last he understood that in politics sometimes you have to eat humble pie and do the unexpected such as to hug and kiss your enemy for support when you’re cornered by a deadlier enemy – betrayed by your most trusted lieutenant.
There’s no doubt that the newly appointed deputy MCA president Liow Tiong Lai belongs to the “third force” who was trying to take Ong Tee Kiat and Chua Soi Lek out of the equation. Some said Liow was the leader of the third force but I’m not too sure. Liow can easily rival former President Ling Liong Sik as the greatest puppet to Najib’s UMNO party. You do not have to be rocket scientist to guess who are the members of the third force – former Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy, former MCA president Ong Ka Ting and his own brother Ong Ka Chuan, former MCA president Ling Liong Sik and of course the controversial billionaire Tiong King Sing who was the big boss affected by the PKFZ scandal. Emerging members of the third force are people like Tiong King Sing’s buddy Wee Ka Siong, Chew Mei Fun (Ong Tee Kiat’s boot-licker) and other former ministers.
It’s almost impossible to fight such a powerful third force who has billions to spend in their attempt to gain control of MCA and indirectly the ticket to richest (more corruptions and scandals) so it must be really hard for Ong Tee Kiat to put his principle on back seat and temporary makes up with Chua Soi Lek. Credit should be given to Ong for his latest brilliant political move in joining forces with Chua to check-mate the third force representative, Liow Tiong Lai. The third force was speechless as it did not expect Ong to hold the hand of a person (Chua) whose cuckoo was exposed in his sex-DVD scandal. But the biggest question was did Najib’s administration played any part in the third force as well?
It was quite easy to justify why speculators believed Najib’s administration was somehow involved in the initial plan to kick and hang Ong’s (and later Chua) balls on the wall. Ong’s revealation about PKFZ’s scandal was disastrous enough to Najib’s administration. Ong has breached the basic rules of BN political games and that is exposing scandals to the amusement of the oppositions and voters. Ong should have sweep the scandals under the carpet and for him to open up the can of worms was tantamount to slap Najib on the face. Even Mahathir has suggested that Najib should “interfere” in the MCA’s power struggle (and in the process appoint someone obedient to UMNO?).
It’s not easy to find someone like Ong Tee Kiat who was willing to expose such scandal, regardless of whatever reason he did that in the first place. On the other hand there’re thousands of MCA politicians who are willing to become puppets as long as there’re millions to make. It’ll be interesting to see if Ong can still bark about PKFZ issue now that the scandal is slowly swept under the carpet after taken over by Najib’s other boys. The next episode should see how Chua Soi Lek tries to wrest back his deputy President post from the traitor Liow Tiong Lai. But with Registrar of Societies (ROS) adopting “hear no evil, see no evil” over Chua’s status, Chua and Ong needs to work together to get rid of traitors from the third force team.
Without Chua’s support Ong is history and without Ong’s remaining popularity, Chua would find it hard to comeback especially after his sex DVD scandal refuse to die the natural death. If a principled Ong can accept Chua’s past sex scandal it was hope naturally the rest of MCA members can do the same. No doubt Ong and Chua’s feud will restart again but that has to take a back seat, at least for the time being. Now is the crucial time to ensure the survival of both Ong and Chua. If both of them can stay united during current trying moment, not even dictator Mahathir can do anything about it. But the journey to dispose the third force will take many months, not to mention the huge resources required since the third force’s veteran team members are loaded with money.
Other Articles That May Interest You …
- MCA’s Leadership to Change – minus a Ministry?
- Transportation – Silly PR Stunt and PKFZ Scandal Revisit
- Chua Soi Lek’s Sex DVDs, Cuckoo ends his Career
- Learn from Mistakes – better days ahead for Transmile
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October 27th, 2009 by financetwitter
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Comments
Even the ordinary people, such as pasar malam traders, taxi drivers, office workers, etc., are saying that there are many fingers in that rotten PKFZ pie, who are now quaking in their pants because OTK is threatening to expose this dirty linen to public view and they will be identified as the culprits.So, these rascals are desperately doing whatever they can to prevent OTK from doing so, and of course the best way is to remove him from his post.Sunnyday
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