Friday, January 04, 2008

Is Chua Soi Lek trying to tell us who set him up?

I reckon that Chua Soi Lek's outgoing press conference sheds a lot of light (albeit indirectly), on exactly which 'political enemy' set him up for the fall. Here are some excerpts from Sun2Surf

"A lot of people were highly suspicious of my movements, why is this man working so hard meeting members ... so he must have a political agenda. He must be ambitious. This was made worse by the press. The press will always say Dr Chua is one who may be mounting a challenge against the deputy president, against the president."

Chua, a medical doctor, said he was unhappy with the "political behaviour of some leaders" but did not elaborate.
In a related article, Sun2Surf has more
Just a day earlier, Chua had said in his constituency of Labis that he would not resign as he served at the pleasure of the prime minister and that it was clear why the DVDs, which were reportedly recorded two years ago, were being distributed now."

Asked why he changed his mind within 24 hours, the 61-year-old Chua said: "After I confessed my mistake, I had hoped Malaysians would accept my apology. Unfortunately, from the feedback I've received, I found that Malaysians could not accept it. Some Malaysians are behaving holier-than-thou.

"I am afraid if I continue to hold the positions in the government or the party, it would be a burden to the government and the party, especially in the context of Islam Hadhari and healthy political culture mooted by my party president (Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting)."

"I have received no fewer than 200 SMSes condemning certain party leaders, I would not go into it. The moment I leave, I don't like to see my party split. I hope the party leadership under Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting, if he is practising real healthy political culture, would look into it."

Chua, who had openly declared he would be contesting higher posts in the party, including the presidency, said the healthy political culture should also embrace zero corruption and no moral judgment.
Do you see how many times he seems to choke on mentioning his party president's "healthy political culture"? And how many times he alluded to the pivotal significance of his intention (or the perception of his intention) to contest for the presidency of MCA?

And meanwhile, Lim Kit Siang, in his blog raised a very interesting contention about why Chua did an about-turn with regards to his earlier decision not resign, and that someone might have misled him into confessing.
The second betrayal was whether he had been misled into believing that his admission in his Labis statement would suffice, and he could continue to keep his government and party posts, when in fact, his Labis statement would be the basis to force him to relinquish his government and party posts – as has now happened.
Now.., we all read earlier how Chua sought the advice and forgiveness of Pak Lah, Najib and Ong Ka Ting, his party president, before confessing to the press. Might one of them have set him up for the fall by convincing him to confess publicly?

The Star carries a transcript of this last press conference. Don't ask me how accurate the MCA-owned newspaper can be.

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