Soi Lek: Liow broke deal, has no credibility

Barely a month after handing over the MCA presidency, Dr Chua Soi Lek has slammed his successor Liow Tiong Lai for failing to honour two contracts between them.

 

At a press conference in Petaling Jaya today, Chua showed reporters the two contracts which Liow allegedly reneged on and described the latter as having "no credibility".

 

The first contract was signed on March 4, 2010, where Chua and Liow agreed to form a pact ahead of elections for the MCA president and deputy president on March 28 that year.

 

Chua claimed that Liow eventually backed another candidate - former MCA president Ong Ka Ting - for the presidential race instead.

 

The second contract was inked on Nov 28, 2013 stipulating that Liow agreed to appoint Chua’s men as secretary-general, MCA heads in three states, co-opt three individuals into the central committee and appoint Chua as a board member of a government-linked company (GLC), should he be elected as the party president on Dec 21 later that year.

However, Chua (right in photo) said Liow had not fulfilled “99 percent” of what was agreed upon after he had become the party president.

“So, if you breach two agreements, I would say openly that he has no credibility and is an inconsistent leader.

“I think that I must share this with my colleagues in the party because once he had become the party president, he will go everywhere to make all kinds of promises.

“So I must remind my colleagues that this leader can make promises but eventually it will become lip-service,” said Chua.

Chairing the first central committee meeting on Jan 2, Liow had appointed all his men to hold all the important posts in the Chinese-based party.

At the same time, party vice-presidents Chua Tee Yong and Lee Chee Leong, and central committee member Mah Hang Soon, who are from Soi Lek’s camp, had been appointed as Perlis, Kedah and Perak state liaison committee chairperson respectively.

Expressing his disappointment, Chua criticised that Liow’s arrangement was merely to consolidate his position as the party chief.

‘He loves the party post more than the party’

“This is because, the president post is very important to him, he loves the party post more than the party,” he added.

He was also unhappy with the new line-up of the state liaison committees, saying that they have the highest number of parachuting chiefs, who are from outside the states, in the history of MCA.

“There have their leaders as central committee members, elected by the central delegates, so they should be given a chance to lead and not be coming from central.

“When I said I was not defending my presidency, Liow Tiong Lai used to quote a Chinese proverb that ‘the king should not joke’. But now I don’t know whether he is joking with me or not,” he added.

According to Chua, the agreement clearly stated the names of particular leaders who should be appointed to their respective posts after the party election.

However, he refused to divulge their names as it will be unfair to them and will cause chaos in the party.

Besides the signatures of both Chua and Liow (left), he said that the agreements were witnessed by people inside and outside the party as well as lawyers.

Chua said that the agreements’ penalty clauses clearly stated that the other party can bring forward this issue to the party disciplinary board should the other party breach the agreement.

However, Chua said he won’t do so.

“He is party president, why should I do so? He should know very well how to do,” he added.

Meanwhile, Liow refuted Chua’s accusations and lamented that the latter has never stopped blackmailing since the 13th general election.

He said that Chua himself should know very well who has no credibility.

“For now, I will focus on the reformation of the party, to lead the party to move forward,” Liow wrote on his Facebook page.