MGG Pillai Commentary View

<< Previous || Next >>

The MCA and the triads: Ong Ka Ting's Faustian bargain

THE MCA PRESIDENT, DATO' SERI ONG Ka Ting, ignores his Faustian bargain with triad leaders, and behaves as if nothing is amiss. He took the high road when one triad leader close to him, Ong King Ee, or 'Jackie Chan', acquired status and rank in the MCA in Penang, and dominated several MCA divisions there, is missing though high on the police wanted list, and now believed to be in Thailand. He wanted to expel the MCA youth leader, Dato' Ong Tee Keat, for revealing to the deputy prime minister his list of triad leaders known to be close to Dato' Seri Ong. When Jackie Chan was on the police wanted list, Dato' Seri Ong said one should not prejudge the man and promised action if he is found to be who everyone knows who he is. As pressure builds, he changes his mind: the MCA presidential council has now suspended him. But of one thing it is clear: he knows the man and other triad leaders in Selangor, and closer than is believed.

The involvement of triads in the MCA, and of gangsters in other National Front parties, comes when the leaders, afraid of challenge, use them to force the general body to vote their way. But their existence is stonewalled, and the leaders would not allow to be questioned on it. Dato' Seri Ong kept silent while the Malay Mail wrote extensively on his links to the triads until he had to react: he wrote a letter to the paper denying his links. People have short memories, so the deliberate attempt to wreck divisional, branch and even the MCA youth meetings are now forgotten. But most in the know can even name the triad leader or group which orchestrated it.

It is now clear Dato' Seri Ong signed a Faustian pact with the triad. What is a Faustian pact? There are numerous interpretations of what it is all about. Christopher Marlowe in the 16th century and Goethe in the 19th wrote of Dr Faust selling his soul to the devil in return for 24 years of further life in which he would enjoy every possible pleasure and have all knowledge at his command. The tragedy is when the Devil demands his due when time runs out. Dato' Seri Ong enjoys the fallout from the pact, which becomes unstuck. But he must deliver. And that cannot come cheap.

He puts on a brave front, and calls on MCA members to ignore the triad issue, which he implies, rightly, is destructive, and work instead to make the party a political fighting machine. He says disingeniously: "We should get on to more constructive work rather than talk about something we have already dealt with." When was that done? True, the deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who has the list of triad leaders in the MCA, is worried that an unsettled and quarrelsom MCA can redound on the BN's electoral chances, and has called for peace and quiet. He has taken the cue, and now calls for the quietitude which has escaped the party since the former president, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik, decided he rules not on the pleasure of the general body but of the Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed.

Dato' Seri Ong is his protege. Both must take the blame for the high presence of triad leaders - several MCA members and Chinese worthies mentioned several key MCA members in Selang and Penang involved in activities that could land them the death sentence, and all close to the MCA leaders - and unless they address it in the open, it would create bigger fissures in the future. It is in this uncertainty that many do not accept his presidency. A new election must be held, say several MCA leaders, including some aligned to him. He was appointed president to hold office until 2005 when Dr Ling was forced out. But nothing has changed since, Dr Ling controls the MCA through his puppet, Dato' Seri Ong, the problems that caused the crisis still unresolved, the Team B group deliberately isolated, with talk now that they should not expect the representation they now have in the state assemblies and the parliament. This also worries Pak Lah, who knows of their strength and indeed is sympathetic to them.

With general elections widely expected in the first half of 2004, it puts both Pak Lah and Dato' Seri Ong in a bind. It is not just the MCA's internal problems, but its relations with the other Chinese party in the BN, Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia, especially in Penang. It now appears the triads plays a huge part there to queer the pitch, with Gerakan leaders suggesting that it was the triads that caused it: pressure was attempted on them through the triad leaders, but that did not work.

The attempt to replace the Gerakan with the MCA, after two key defections gave the latter more seats in the state assembly backfired. The two defectors to MCA were suspended. The MCA presidential council recently lifted that suspension. But that was done with proper consultations or procedure. Since decisions in the BN supreme council have to be unanimous, the Gerakan veto would keep the duo suspended. Hence Dato' Seri Ong's fence-mending stand now: "The Gerakan and MCA must work together so it would benefit the BN and the people" and "We hope to see co-operation at all levels between the MCA and Gerakan". Yet it was the MCA, under Dr Ling and Dato' Seri Ong, which did not want it.

Pak Lah is not disposed towards the MCA leadership as Dr Mahathir is. And Pak Lah is prime minister in three months. Dato' Seri Ong must put affairs in order before then. But how can he when he has not resolved the Team A-Team B problems, and believes the MCA would be organised by doing nothing about it but talk. Since he took over the MCA presidency, he has made no attempt to bring the Team B leaders into his confidence. The talk is that he wants them further isolated. For too long, the BN parties have slid into irrelevance. Every BN party has irresolvable problems it must resolve in months. The autocratic leaders can no long expect total obedience. The newer members, in their 20s and 30s, and not about to be willing to be led by their noses as their fathers were. It is a powderkeg on which they sit, and for Dato' Seri Ong the triad issue has lit the fuse.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my