Top MCA leader was behind the controversy

The downfall of Dr Chua Chua Soi Lek in the wake of a sex scandal is a “political plot” and top MCA leader was behind the controversy! Read this interesting story by Malaysiakini.

MCA Youth No 2 Ling Hee Leong has questioned party president Ong Ka Ting’s view that the downfall of Vice-president Dr Chua Soi Lek was not due to a political plot, as alleged.

"If lightning strikes, certainly it is from the sky. If this is not a political plot, then tell me what it is?” was the outspoken Hee Leong’s response when contacted to comment on Ka Ting’s statement.

Hee Leong is the son of long-serving former MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik, who had handpicked Ka Ting as successor in 2003.

Ka Ting, in rejecting Hee Leong’s call for an internal investigation into those behind recording and revealing sex scandal, had yesterday asked for any concrete proof to be submitted to the police.

He said that he too was “curious” to know whether any top MCA leader was behind the controversy, but that the probe should be left to the police.

The younger Ling had earlier attributed Chua’s downfall in the wake of a sex scandal to a “political plot”.

His open war of words with Ka Ting signals an escalation of tension by a faction - the majority of who are Liong Sik loyalists - who were already unhappy with the president’s handling of issues. A factional fight appears to be looming within the party.

Chua, who was health minister and is married with three children, resigned abruptly last week after a DVD of him having sex with a female “personal friend” was widely distributed in his political base of Johor.

The footage was apparently recorded with four hidden cameras in a hotel room in Batu Pahat.

The 61-year-old politician - known to be a staunch supporter of Liong Sik during the latter’s 17-year presidency - also quit as party vice-president, as Johor chief and Labis MP. The seat had been passed on to him by Liong Sik.


The controversy has triggered speculation that this could have been the work of party insiders seeking to kill Chua’s political career.

He was said to be eyeing the top two posts in the next party election and was set to pose a strong challenge to Ka Ting or his deputy Chan Kong Choy, if he chose to challenge them.

Members who wanted to see Chua to take on Ka Ting in the presidential race apparently were also unhappy with how the president is seen to be laying the ground for his elder brother and MCA secretary-general Ka Chuan to take over the party.

For instance, observers see Ka Ting’s appointment as acting health minister to replace Chua as paving the way for Ka Chuan to assume the post after the next general election.

Hee Leong, in making the call on Monday for internal investigation into the sex scandal, had said in sarcasm: “We must get to the bottom of this because this is not the president’s or secretary-general’s party. I was born and brought up in this party too”.

But the tension may have been slightly defused with an announcement yesterday to appoint Chua’s ally as the MCA Johor chief - a post which Ka Ting was said to have been eyeing for a long time.

The post is deemed an influential one in party politics as the biggest number of elected representatives are from the state. It is also one of the states with the largest number of central delegates to the party.

MCA controls 23 parliamentary and state seats in Johor. A popular saying in the party is that ‘the man who rules Johor (MCA) is the man who rules MCA’.

The press helped to kill Malaysian “Hell” Minister

Former health minister Chua Soi Lek today accused his "political enemies" of orchestrating the release of a video showing him having sex with an unidentified woman in a hotel room.

"The press helped to kill me, to be honest," Chua, who is married with three children, told an impromptu press conference after clearing out his office.

The scandal engulfing Chua, 61, who resigned yesterday, is the latest in a series of problems facing Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's government ahead of elections which he is expected to call this year.

Chua -- the most senior minister to leave the government so far -- said the media's role in highlighting his work had led certain groups to target him, but he did not name any specific organisations, state news agency Bernama reported.

Chua was also vice-president of MCA, a key part of Abdullah's coalition government, before the scandal over the widely circulated tape sparked his resignation.

"The press will always say Dr Chua is one who may be mounting a challenge against the (MCA) deputy president, against the (MCA) president," he told Bernama.

"Who my enemies are, I really don't know."

Chua admitted on Tuesday that he was in the video, which has been splashed on the front pages of newspapers since the DVD started circulating in his home state of Johor last week.

Attempting to control the fallout from the scandal, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak downplayed the impact of Chua's resignation.

"I do not think that the matter will provide political mileage (for the opposition)," he said.

"It is not easy for a leader to arrive at such a decision," he was quoted as saying by Bernama, praising Chua for placing the interests of the party and government above his own by resigning.

Sex scandals among politicians are not uncommon in Malaysia, with several members of the ruling Umno having been forced to resign in recent years.

Honesty does not pay, Chua Quits All Posts

Embattled MCA vice-president and Health Minister Dr Chua Soi Lek has quit politics altogether by relinquishing all his party and government posts with immediate effect.

He has also stepped down as the member of parliament for Labis. Up until his resignation today, he was also the party’s Johor state chief as well as the Batu Pahat division head.

He expressed disappointment that the public has adopted a holier-than-thou attitude on the issue and noted sarcastically that "maknanya semuanya golongan ulamak" (it must mean they are all very pious).

“I thought that by my admission, the people would forgive my weaknesses, but I thought wrong. This shows that honesty does not always pay, (but) it is up to the public to judge me,” he said.

“My mistake was to go to the same hotel and the same room all the time. I thought it was convenient,” he lamented.

Saying that his resignation would stop people from “following me everywhere (and) placing hidden cameras to capture my every movement”, he described this as a “very sick and unhealthy political culture”.

“The prime minister has personally told me that he would investigate who is behind the video, so let’s leave the matter at that.”

Chua had previously hinted at the possibility of a political motive on the part of the person who recorded the footage, said to have been recorded with cameras placed at four spots in a hotel room. Two videos were produced from the footage.

Sex DVDs show Malaysian Health Minister

Health Minister Dr Chua Soi Lek openly admitted that he is the one featured in a video depicting a man having sex with a woman purportedly in a hotel room that is being circulated in Johor becomes one of the most popular stories in the world now.

According to BBC, Malaysian minister becomes unwitting star of sex video. Read this BBC story. Malaysian Health Minister Chua Soi Lek has admitted that he is the man who features in two widely circulated DVDs of an unmarried couple having sex.

He said he had apologised to the prime minister and other ruling party leaders but would not resign, and his own wife and children had accepted his apology.

Mr Chua said he had taken no part in the making of the DVD recordings, one of them said to be almost an hour long.

The video is CCTV footage taken in a hotel, according to one newspaper.

It is the latest in a series of difficulties to confront the administration of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, who is expected to call an election in the coming weeks.

According to Malaysia's Star newspaper, copies of the DVDs were initially left at various locations in the town of Muar, in Johor State, on Saturday "for people to pick up".