Selangor MCA grassroot leaders call for Ong's resignation

PETALING JAYA, Tues: 

After MCA’s poor election showing, the party grassroots has demanded that its president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting take responsibility by resigning.

Branding Ong as a “dictator”, a group of Selangor grassroot leaders claimed the president refused to listen to members’ feedback during candidate selection, most of which were new faces.

“We have voiced concerns to him before the elections but it was ignored. We did not speak out then because of party interest and we wanted to give him a benefit of doubt. Now that MCA fared badly, he should take responsibility and step down. Be a gentleman and resign,” the group’s spokesperson Datuk Theng Book, who is also Puchong MCA division youth chief, told a press conference today.

At the press conference, which was attended by 15 members, they unfurled a banner in Mandarin which read ‘Selangor MCA grassroots leaders requesting Ong Ka Ting to step down.’

Theng said Selangor members are taking the lead to voice out their disappointment over Ong’s leadership. “If we don’t do it, there won’t any future for the party. We might not be able recapture the lost seats and in the long run, the party might ceased to be relevant.”
He said the demand will not cause a split in the MCA, now at its lowest point with the worst election performance.

On Ong declining a Cabinet post to take responsibility for the party’s poor showing, Theng said the ministerial post had nothing to do with his failure as party president.

However, coming in defence of Ong, Datuk Lee Hwa Beng said the president can now devote his energy and time to re-organise the party. “He shouldn’t resign. We still need him and if there is blame, the central committee should shoulder it because we all have equal say in all decisions,” he said.

Ipoh Timur MCA division deputy chief Datuk Thong Fah Chong blamed the state MCA’s poor showing to unprepared candidates. “Some of the candidates did not even know they would be candidates. Due to someone’s political agenda, the leadership insisted in unfamiliar faces in the Kinta Valley. Some tried to decline but were fielded to fulfil the political agenda,” he said in a statement.

He felt MCA had let the BN down and today, the MCA seemed irrelevant. “The MCA should leave BN if it is no longer relevant to the Chinese. I believe the party has to change for the better. Should the party continue to do things that are not delivering to the Chinese, then it should not exist,” he said.