MCA president Chua Soi Lek today said that his predecessor Ong Tee Keat should resign if he no longer believes in the party.

"If you have any integrity (and) you have no faith in the party (then) you should resign," he said at a press conference after chairing the 58th MCA annual general assembly meeting at the party headquarters."

mca agm 021011 left chua soi lek and najib But the MCA chief later denied that he was asking Ong to resign from the party or as a parliamentarian.

Q: Do you mean resign from the party?

Chua : No... Resign and resign from the party is different.

Q: You want him to resign as a parliamentarian?

Chua: No, I'm not asking him to resign as a parlimentarian.

Chua later left the contradiction of his words to his predecessor's "wisdom", stating that if Ong had no confidence in the party, he should not serve under the name of the party.

"So I make a statement which forms the premise, how he forms the conclusion is up to him."

Chua was responding to the former MCA president's recent statement that the party has become "irrelevant".

'Footnote in MCA history'

In a stinging rebuttal, Chua used the same description on Ong, saying that he will remain as a "footnote" in the history of MCA.

mca agm 021011 01 "He had a chance to lead MCA for 17 months and that was just after March 8 (general election). He never did anything on reformation or transformation - all he did was to punish people, to sack people," said Chua.

He added that in the 62 years of the party's history, there were only six extraordinary general meetings, but under the 17-month tenure of Ong, three extraordinary general meetings were triggered.

A fallout between Chua, who was MCA deputy president, with then-president Ong, led to the former being sacked in 2009 over the former's sex video controversy.

The sacking ultimately led to a revolt by two-thirds of the MCA central committee members, triggering fresh elections in an extraordinary general meeting where Chua ousted Ong to take the presidency.

'I have not used MCA's banner'

In an immediate reaction, Ong said that he had never used MCA's name when carrying out his duties since Chua came to power.

"Whatever I have done I did with my position as Pandan MP. What I have done is not related to MCA.

"All my service centre correspondents, I have not used MCA's or BN's name," he said when contacted by Malaysiakini .

While admitting that he had contested under MCA's banner, Ong pointed out that was in 2008, prior to the party crisis.

Ong has largely stayed out of MCA's politics since his ouster and has used the brand "OTK service centre" in discharging his role as MP.

ong tee keat at bn meeting with najib Earlier during Chua's keynote speech to party delegates, Chua lambasted "loose cannons" in the ruling coalition, without naming Ong ( right ).

"They seem to have been afflicted with the 'four diseases': delusion, amnesia, inertia and arrogance.

"If allowed to fester, it will heighten the people's anger and negative perceptions of the BN and the government."

When asked later who he was referring to, Chua resorted to the Malay idiom: "anyone who eats chili will feel its spiciness".