Prove me wrong Soi Lek, sack Tee Keat

LETTER Although I have retired as a journalist of more than 30 years in the mainstream print media, I still believe in my instincts.
When, obviously pro-MCA bloggers (read as toadies of scandal-tainted president Chua Soi Lek) uploaded a news spin that ousted president Ong Tee Keat is about to join the DAP, my suspicions were aroused.
Through years of experience as a reporter and editor, I sensed something was just not right. The news is based on a picture of Tee Keat having lunch with DAP Selangor state executive councillor Teresa Kok.

Why was I suspicious about the report:
Why have lunch in the public for all to see; Don’t tell me there are no more discreet places to hold such politically sensitive discussions? and
If Tee Keat had wanted to join the DAP or Pakatan Rakyat, why now? Veteran political observers will tell you that the timing is just not right because political moves and decisions are made with calculated advantages. Tee Keat would have followed the direction of former MCA vice-president Chua Jui Meng to join PKR if he had wanted to, instead of making the move now because in politics, there is always the right time to make a right decision and a right move.
To prove my news instincts right, as a free lance journalist now, I decided to “watch the fun” at the SJK (C) On Pong 2 Environmental Day where Tee Keat was scheduled to attend.
I was not to be disappointed.
Tee Keat, now without a government portfolio to call the shots after being toppled by those who sinfully benefitted from the multi-billion ringgit Port Klang Free Zone financial scandal, is after all no more “news value” for the mainstream media. Take my word for this based on my experience.
Turning up for a purely school event on a Saturday (Oct 22, 2011) were TV, radio and the print media.
I was tickled by their presence, by their herd mentality and lack of news judgment.
Instead of being offended, Tee Keat invited the reporters to shoot their questions even before the actual event and conference could be held.
A barrage of questions, all related to the news spin and photographs, that Tee Keat was quitting the MCA to join the DAP was asked.
And this was how Tee Keat responded:
“Yes, I had lunch with Teresa and two others, a Taman Saga resident and an Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) councillor on Oct 25, 2011.
“Teresa invited me for lunch to discuss the long-standing objections of the residents of two housing estates over the construction of high-tension cables.
“It is an issue which I had taken up with the residents since 2008 and we have even submitted a memo to the state government.
“The state government needs to resolve this because the matter is now at the level of the state exco.
“The news spin is therefore devoid of any truth. It is the work of rumourmongers or cybertroopers resorting to the use of gutter politics to attack politicians to serve a specific agenda of their paymasters.
“I cannot be sure who is responsible for this attack. But, just before Deepavali, there was a similar attack by MCA cybertroopers that I am joining Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR). This follows Chua’s media statement to the press at the recently concluded MCA annual general meeting that
I should quit the party since I have expressed my view that the MCA had become ‘irrelevant and in denial’.
“Yes I bumped into (PKR de facto leader) Anwar Ibrahim in Parliament now and then and we do sit down to chat. Does that mean I am joining PKR?
“Also, for those not in the know or had missed an ‘opportunity to spin rubbish news’ I had also met Selangor PAS MPs, so I will not be surprised that they will say I am joining PAS next.
“The cybertroopers also missed another opportunity to speculate! I was with Teresa Kok’s father at the SMJK Confucian Form Five graduation ceremony for the whole morning! What are you going to write next?”
Ong said he had been a subject of political speculations after he was ousted as MCA president.
“I have also been approached several times to join the PR since then. It is nothing new and I have left the matter that way because it is just water under the bridge,” he said.

Ong said he had reiterated many times that he would offer himself as a parliamentary candidate for Pandan in the next general election.
“This is my promise and my duty to my constituents whom I had served since January 1989,” he added.
It is now crystal clear that the current MCA leadership is frustrated and wants Tee Keat out of the way in MCA and Pandan. But it has no guts to sack him.
Feel free to prove me wrong!

Jackson Ng is a retired journalist