Events unfolding in MCA are about the "end justifying the means". Dr Ling Liong Sik and his team will do whatever it takes to achieve their "end". To me, these are not issues but symptoms of something else. Power struggle in any political party is normal but in this case it appears to be something else before the power struggle come into being.

First, there was the 'succession' issue. I understand that succession in political parties are usually negotiated. When negotiations fail, then a test of strength will ensue.

But this matter has gone off track following various internal changes.

The infamous Batu Pahat incident attempted to discredit and dishonour Lim Ah Lek with regard to the succession issue when it was about to be resolved. The famous Penang Duo lend weight to affirm that Ah Lek was lying.

The matter died a natural death only when the man who has been the conscience of MCA, veteran leader Wong Moke Leong, who happens to have access to the privileged information, came out publicly to provide 'proof' that Ah Lek did not lie.

The untainted politician, Ah Lek, wants to retire quietly after tying up a couple of loose ends first. And yet Ling resorted to such an underhand tactic to discredit and to dishonour Ah Lek. Such an unthinkable act can actually happen to anyone as long as Ling remains in power.

Yet Ling still has the gall to say that Ah Lek is his friend, where appearances are concerned, even now.

Then come the Nanyang Press Holdings takeover. Till today, nobody can really convince the public that the purchase is financially viable or credible despite a lot of positive noises and public relation exercises by Ling and his gang.

Nanyang, which publishes Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press , remains suspended in the KL Stock Exchange with no suitor in sight for reasons that are known to all. I was told that a family that had read Nanyang for three generations actually gave up buying it. A Chinese Malaysian institution was destroyed overnight.

One justification for the purchase of Nanyang was that the newspaper was 'anti-government'. The truth is that its rival Sin Chew Jit Poh , was equally independent and vocal, too.

If Ling had succeeded in dishonouring Ah Lek in the Batu Pahat incident, the purchase of Nanyang would have been a stroll in the park for him.

The consequent appointment of two Chinese Malaysian political advisers to Dr Mahathir Mohamad rendered the whole exercise as redundant and irrelevant. By then, an institution had died an unnecessary death.

The appointment of the Chinese Malaysian advisers speaks volumes of the working relationship between Ling (MCA) and Umno, and Dr M in particular. No wonder even Abdullah is weary of Ling.

Subsequent events like the infamous Youth AGM fracas was premeditated by Team A to allow Ling to appoint the "council of elders" to take away Team B's platform. Everyone already knew the findings of the "elders" way before their report was out.

However, it is the padding of members from other places and the phantom members that really take the cake. The 138,000 new members are so unprecedented and unbelievable that the public at large just do not buy it.

Yet Ling and his gang intend to go ahead and hijack MCA for their ends. The end justifies the means regardless of the perception of the public, especially the Chinese Malaysian. The blatant abuse of powers and creative interpretations of the Constitution to serve their ends are Machiavellian.

Ah Lek did the right thing to challenge Ling on the membership issue. Otherwise, whatever is left of MCA as an institution to serve Chinese Malaysians is going to be a joke if it is up to the bunch of jokers in Team A.