Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek took his first bite of bitter fruit this afternoon when he was faced with a few voices of dissent against his leadership during his maiden central committee meeting held at Corus Hotel here.
The opposition, which had unsurprisingly come from his deputy Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, could be a harbinger of more to come.
The Malaysian Insider understands that Liow had objections to Dr Chua’s proposed list of state chairmen.
Liow’s objections could also mean that the MCA leadership, although said to be all-inclusive with a mixed team of supporters from all camps, might still be faced with hiccups every now and again.
Today’s meeting, which lasted about three hours, saw the appointments of the party’s top administrative posts, namely that of secretary-general, treasurer-general and national organising secretary, their deputies, as well as eight more CC members.
Dr Chua also appointed members of his presidential council team and the party’s list of state liaison chairmen.
The disagreement started during the appointments of the state liaison chairmen and the opposition came from Liow, who had earlier openly declared his inability to accept Dr Chua’s leadership.
The party’s No 2 had been vocal in his disapproval of Dr Chua, and had been one of the leaders to back former president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat during a row over Dr Chua’s sacking.
Dr Chua was sacked in August last year due to his involvement in a sex scandal that stained his political career in 2007.
During the party poll on March 28, Liow had thrown his support behind Dr Chua’s biggest contender, former party president Tan Sri Ong Ka Ting.
The result of the polls had however forced the two together in an odd marriage, leaving Liow with no choice but to accept his fate of being the deputy to a leader he strongly opposed.
According to a party source however, Liow had no plans to place blind faith in Dr Chua’s leadership.
“He has to draw a line to protest; to show his supporters he has not surrendered.
“He has to show some form of opposition,” the source said.
Liow, added the source, had raised objections when he was asked to hold the post of the Pahang state chairman.
“Pahang is a relatively small state, with only about over 160 delegates. It is not like Johor, Perak or Selangor.
“He refused it but was made to accept it later,” said the source.
Liow’s voice of dissent was joined with that of the party’s former secretary-general Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan, who is also the older brother of Ka Ting.
“Ka Chuan also showed protest. He turned down the post of religious bureau chairman,” said the source.
The source added that the opposition, though relatively mild, showed that Dr Chua’s tenure as president may be peppered by similar occasions of opposition over the year.
It also shows that Liow, despite having claimed there was no bad blood between him and Dr Chua, was still unable to wholly accept the latter as his new boss.
courtesy of Malaysian Insider
No comments:
Post a Comment