Controversial entrepreneur John Soh Chee Wen — once a corporate high-flyer, now a near bankrupt — is clearly a man with a mission. Having spent three years overseas on the run from the law, he said his return was to rebuild his business empire.

However, most believe he has another, albeit unspoken, mission — to spook former confidant-turned-adversary, MCA chief Dr Ling Liong Sik, into quitting his powerful post. That appears to have been accomplished.

Days after Soh's widely publicised homecoming, Ling was reported to have reluctantly inked the deal he originally stitched with his rival, Lim Ah Lek — that both would step down together from the party's top two posts in favour of their respective protégès.

This latest deal came in the wake of an Umno-brokered pact between the two protagonists — that the party observed a no-contest ruling in its upcoming polls.

Despite what Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has claimed, the no-contest ruling pact is not the final solution to the bitter squabbles within the Chinese-based party. After all, there still remain the unresolved leadership succession issue.

Indeed, the no-contest ruling is merely to allow Team B to buy time and avoid the party polls. Without the deal, Team B is likely to be defeated by Ling's faction in the party polls — either with or without the alleged phantom voters.

Not out for revenge

Ling, who was accused by Lim of going back on their joint-resignation agreement before the 1999 general election, had publicly indicated that he did not intend to step down anytime soon. Soh's brief was to prod Ling into changing his mind.

On setting foot in Malaysia, Soh strongly hinted that he was prepared to reveal his unsavoury business dealings with Ling, and how both helped the strongman's son — then 27 years old — took over companies worth billions.

According to Soh, Ling had over the past few years maligned his reputation and turned him into a pariah within MCA. No more. He will now "draw a line in the sand" and tell his protagonist in no uncertain terms: this far, no further.

"If the authorities require me to reveal names, so be it," he said.

This threat — that he is willing to bare all — continues to be Soh's most powerful bargaining chip. After all, Soh is someone who knows enough what made Malaysia Inc ticked in those heady days when the stock market defied Newton's laws.

Clearly, Ling is not the only person that Soh can take down. Soh is known to have close ties with a few key business tycoons and politicians, and they too would prefer that he hushes up.

This will no doubt help him cut a deal with the powers that be, though this has been consistently denied by Soh. Which is why we don't expect him to sing.

Grudging respect

But why the public fascination over Soh? For some, this is the man who can do what Team B has failed — to force Ling to retire from politics.

For others, the grudging respect comes from his rags-to-riches — and, yes, riches-to-rags — stories, and his remarkable ability to make a comeback, time and again.

Soh made his first million at the age of 24 on the back of a direct-selling shampoo business. He was to lose it all in the mid-1980s recession.

That was when life, said Soh, got really interesting. He found himself a niche in rescuing troubled companies. In so doing, he was spotted by a few politically well-connected individuals and became a player in corporate Malaysia, big time.

At the age of 36 — the height of his career — Soh controlled half a dozen public-listed companies worth billions.

The 'f' word

Now 42 and heavily in debt — between RM200 million and RM500 million, according to Soh — the ex-businessman-cum-politician is also facing a string of lawsuits and two Security Commission charges for defrauding a stockbroking firm.

"I'm no angel," Soh conceded. "I made mistakes and I'll pay the price."

It is too early to tell whether the man who has been tagged by the media with the eight-letter 'f' word will indeed pay the price.