In the final part of the interview, former minister and MCA veep Dr Chua Soi Lek talks about, among others, the testing time his family endured following the infamous sex tape scandal.

Malaysiakini: There were a lot of speculations that you were misled into tendering an apology during the sex tape controversy but later on told to resign?

Chua: I won’t say I was misled. I felt that the only right and honourable thing for me to do was to admit and apologise.

Did the party president (Ong Ka Ting) ask you to apologise?

He never asked me to tender my apology, to be fair. I, on my own, gave my own apology. I drafted the apology with some people, it’s (the draft) still with me, in my pocket. I came out voluntarily because I have done wrong, I should admit and apologise.

Why did you decide to make the U-turn and quit 24 hours after tendering the apology?

When you apologise, you don’t quit immediately. You don’t do that politically, you wait for 24 hours then you quit.

chua soi lek interview 020408 02 Some said you were rather insincere in apologising because you made insinuations against others at the same time.

No, did my action show that I was unhappy? I’m still a happy man. During the (general election) campaign period, I went and campaigned for everybody.

You still don’t know who is the ‘mastermind’ of the tape?

I have no proof who is behind this tape. This tape was done in April but it came out only in December. It takes a lot of patience, you know, to make a tape of your enemy and keep it for months until elections come and throw it to the press.

I will not know who did it (for sure) but I have reasons to believe who is behind it. Of course, I have no substantial evidence, so it’s not fair that I should come out and make a guess even on who is it.

What is the status of the police investigation now?

I don’t know. Police report has been made.

How is your relationship with your wife?

Very good.

Has it been affected by this episode?

No, no. My wife and my children all stay together, this has been my family tradition. When I was an exco in the (Johor) state government, I stayed with my parents and I stayed in a room of their house.

So now my son is a wakil rakyat also, (he just) occupy one room in my house. We share driver, we share car. It has been on like that for years, there has been very good cohesion and understanding.

You criticised the move to drop candidates under the name of rejuvenation but you can’t run away from the fact that the party president has allowed your son (Tee Yong, newly-elected Labis MP) to contest in the last election.

That is a different story, there are stories behind it and reasons why he chose my son.

What are the reasons?

When I resign, I told him that please don’t expect Labis voters take BN or MCA candidate automatically. We have lost (the seat) before - one of our excos stood and lost. The Chinese and Indian voters there are very united, they will reject people that they don’t want. Labis is very unique in a sense for many, many terms it has always been a minister (stood) there. It started with Musa Hitam, Lee San Choon, Tun (Dr) Ling Liong Sik, then came me.

In Johor, we knew the anti-establishment feeling was strong, they (the division) put up my name, my son’s and other names. My name was first (on the list), I don’t know why I wasn’t slotted, but you don’t need to be a rocket science to know (the reasons).

Your son is not a heavyweight, he is a novice.

Who is behind my son?

You could have suggested to the division to field another candidate for the seat, if you do subscribe to the theory that the rejuvenation strategy has caused the party’s dismay electoral performance.

They want somebody with heavyweight and (there is) my commitment to help out. The division thought - and the party probably agreed - the only way to get commitment is to put somebody known in that area.

You all must put yourself in my position - that you became a minister and overnight you withdraw from everything, your passion, commitment are no more there, unless you believe you are doing something that is right.

Imagine yourself as a Malaysiakini CEO (chief executive officer), next day they tell you to resign, you think you still have fire in your belly?

People are just going to see your son as your mere proxy?

chua tee yong 02 No, he has his own standing. I am not praising my own son but he is already a chief financial officer in a government-linked company. If you talk to him, I think he is smarter than a lot of people of his age. He is trilingual.

I am not arrogant, but I am calling a spade a spade that I think he has better quality than a lot of other candidates in terms of academic and career achievements. You don’t get a chief financial officer in a government-linked company in his 30s, more so when you are... ( points to his skin, referring to ethnicity ).

How do you see the outcome of the recent brainstorming session where the party wants to move away from the ‘quiet politics’ approach?

It can’t be solved by a one-and-a-half day of brainstorming. I was not invited and have no chance to voice out (my opinion). I have attended many brainstorming in MCA, when it is presided by the president, a lot of people are very restrained in their comments. Sometimes you hear the truth, sometimes half-truths and sometimes no truth, it’s matter of the respect and fear of the president.

If Malaysian voters have the guts and courage to change in voting (during the March 8 polls). I told the members that the time has come for us too if we want to lead the Chinese community, the members need to change also in their fear mentality which is so deeply embedded in them.

The reasons led to the MCA’s electoral performance - is that due to the personalities leading the party or a general sentiment of the Chinese community?

To be fair, this bad results of BN, Umno as the dominant party has to bear certain amount of the responsibility because it is the dominant party.

MCA as the second largest component party also have to bear the responsibility. It can’t go around and say because of Umno, we failed, that is not fair. We are telling people we represent the Chinese in the cabinet, defend and fighting for their rights, we are a bridge between the government and the Chinese community, if we don’t play that role effectively to transmit the frustration, fear and anger to the government, that is the failure on our part.

We can’t say it’s Umno’s failure. It is also part of our failure that we are unable to articulate that frustration, the anxiety and idealism of Chinese. They want to see a MCA which is more assertive, not just vocal. We must also be seen as not just saying, but doing the right thing, the correct thing at the right time.

The perception is MCA ministers are just kowtowing to Umno in the cabinet.

That’s not very true. I was in cabinet for four years, you can check with people how I behaved (during cabinet meetings, but) I won’t glorify myself. To be fair, the president also speaks (in the cabinet).

How can MCA rebuild itself? What is the future for the party?

ong ka ting mca general assembly 280806 Ethnic-based political parties will continue to exist in Malaysia. We should not be too fast to say ethnic-based political parties like Umno, MCA and MIC will be political dinosaurs two elections down the line.

Why? If you look at our Federal Constitution, as long as the Malays’ rights is enshrined in the constitution, Islam as the official religion and the head of the state must be a Muslim or Malay, there will always be ethnic-based parties to protect that institution.

As long as the Chinese want mother-tongue education, their culture and their identity to be maintained, there will always be a role for Chinese-based political party.

But the past election results have shown a number of Malaysians are not voting along the racial lines.

That’s not true, it’s an one-off thing because there are so many issues which cut across the racial line in this election - inflation or crime affect Malays, Chinese or Indians; abuse of power, the Zakaria (Deros) case a blatant example, it hits everybody.

Religious issues are not handled in a very effective manner by the government affect everybody. You have this cumulative effect of issues that cut across race so for once, people say, okay, we will send the message to the government.

You don’t think the time has come for us to talk about the common identity of Malaysians?

Ideally you should. But as I pointed out, as long as the constitution has special rights for the Malays, Islam being the official religion, the head of the state must be a Malay - who will have that type of political commitment from their own community to do away with all this?

Has MCA been over-represented in the new cabinet line-up?

We traditionally have four (full ministerial posts), it’s good that the government still maintain the four for MCA.

But it doesn’t really tally with the seats delivered by the MCA as compared to Sabah?

Yes it doesn’t tally. Of the 15 (MCA’s) MPs, half come from Johor, but Johor has no (MCA’s) cabinet minister, this is another point which has not gone down well with the Johor people. It’s the Chinese representation in the cabinet that we are talking about.

Watch 6-min video of interview

Related report

Dr Chua: I know the culprit

Part one

MCA: Ong-Chua showdown on the cards?

Q&A: Ka Ting wants to be ‘unchallengeable president’