The HARDEST PART is yet to come for MCA EGM

KUALA LUMPUR - The MCA Extraordinary General Meeting this Sunday (Feb 23) is likely to pass a motion to allow party leaders to take up government positions, including ministerial posts.

However, the hardest part has yet to come as the biggest issue is how many cabinet positions is MCA going to get and how the party leadership is going to distribute them.

"We will only decide after Feb 23. We will only put in our request after the EGM passes the motion. If not, how are we going to ask for the position when EGM has not decided on the matter?" said MCA Central Committee member Chew Koh Woh.

He explained that the party decision-making body, the Central Committee as well as the Presidential Council, would only discuss about the number if the EGM scheduled this Sunday approves the motion.

However, this did not deter the party members, political observers and media fraternity from speculating that MCA intends to seek three minister and four deputy minister posts.

This is based on the fact that MIC was given two ministers and two deputy ministers when the party won only four Parliament and five state seats in the 13th general election.

Currently, there is only one vacancy for the minister's position (Transport Minister) and three deputy ministers position - tourism, prime minister's department and finance - reserved for MCA.

If MCA gets the three ministers post, they will likely go to the party's President Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, deputy president Datuk Wee Ka Siong and secretary-general Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan.

Four vice-presidents Datuk Dr Hou Kok Chung, Datuk Lee Chee Leong, Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun and Datuk Wee Jeck Seng are likely to be nominated for deputy minister posts.

In the previous cabinet, MCA had four ministers and two deputy ministers. However, the party won only seven parliamentary and 11 state seats, out of the 37 parliamentary and 90 state seats it contested in the GE13, thus it was dubbed as "7-11 party".

But political analyst pointed out that it would be difficult for MCA to get three ministers and four deputy ministers position judging from the current cabinet composition -- 35 ministers with 26 deputies -- a much crowded cabinet compared with the previous one.

"I don't think they want to increase the number when they are talking about reducing cost. It will send a very wrong signal should that happen," said the Penang-based political analyst Datuk Cheah See Kian.

If MCA asks for more than one minister and one deputy minister's position, it likely will not go down well with other BN component parties, especially those from Sabah and Sarawak.

As for example, Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) was left without any representation at federal level as compared with the previous arrangement. Instead, its deputy president Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing was appointed as special envoy to East Asia.

While they don't want to openly comment on this, their message is clear.

"We leave it to the wisdom of the prime minister. We are not asking for anything, we are not demanding. We just want to keep what we had before. We contested four and delivered 100 percent victory," said SPDP Deputy secretary-general Paul Igai.

Meanwhile, Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) has also requested for additional ministerial post. "We were given six and delivered all six for BN in Parliament. That's all I want to say. On MCA, I have no comment," said PRS secretary-general Datuk Wilfred Nissom.

Should MCA fail to get enough positions, then it would put the current party president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai in a difficult position.

"If they have three, then it would be easy for Liow to accommodate his deputy Wee and sec-gen Ka Chuan. If given two, then Liow has to choose between Wee and Ong. The same goes if they were given only one deputy minister's post.

"Can Wee take the deputy minister post's again after serving nearly two terms as deputy minister? Or can Ka Chuan be given deputy minister after he had served as housing and local government minister?," a party insider asked.

However, whether MCA will be given one minister (transport) and one deputy minister or be given more positions remains to be seen.

- BERNAMA